Travis to participate in sixth National Drug Take Back Day

  • Published
  • By Capt. Margaret LoPresti
  • 60th Diagnostics and Therapeutics Squadron
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The 60th Diagnostics and Therapeutics Squadron's pharmacy staff at David Grant USAF Medical Center and the 60th Security Forces Squadron are teaming up with the Drug Enforcement Agency to locally host the Sixth National Take-Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 27 at the Base Exchange pharmacy.

The Travis community is encouraged to bring back any unused or partially used prescription, controlled or noncontrolled, for disposal. Last year's four-hour effort collected 310 pounds of unused and unwanted medications for safe disposal locally.

The goal of the initiative is to allow citizens in every state to deliver all their unused, unwanted or expired medications to law enforcement officials who can in turn dispose of these controlled substances in a safe and nonhazardous manner to the communities and environment.

"Prescription drug abuse is becoming an epidemic," said Col. Joseph Weaver, 60th MDTS pharmacy commander. "We recognize that no one wants to throw away 'good medication,' but if you no longer have the condition it was prescribed to treat, then it is not 'good medication' for you to be using."

According to Weaver, the Drug Demand Reduction office and local authorities frown on using medications for a different ailment than a person was prescribed Additionally, flushing prescription drugs down the toilet or throwing them out with the trash poses potential safety and health hazards to the local environment.

The take-back initiative addresses vital public safety and health issues. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high. More Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens and heroin combined, according to the 2012 national survey on drug use and health.

"Studies revealed that over 70 percent of prescription pain-medication abusers got their supply from family and friends' medicine cabinets," said Staff Sgt. Roxana Granados-Peak, NCO in charge of refill pharmacy operations at DGMC. "During the previous five events held nationwide, more than 2 million pounds of prescription drugs were removed from circulation. Let's do our part to help protect our families and communities during this event to safely remove these potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs from Travis households."

Four days after the first take-back event was held in September 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an ultimate user of controlled substance medications dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the attorney general to accept them. The act also allows the attorney general to authorize long-term care facilities to dispose of their residents' controlled substances in certain instances.

According to a DEA press release, totals from the 2012 Take-Back Day collected a record-breaking 552,161 pounds -- 276 tons -- of unwanted or expired medications at 5,659 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories for safe and proper disposal. The state of California alone netted 48,638 pounds, of which 20,915 pounds came from the San Francisco Field Division.

Authorized take-back sites such as the Exchange' s mini-mall have coordinated with local law enforcement agencies so that prescribed controlled substances are accepted for disposal. 60th SFS personnel are required to monitor the collection at all times. The DEA reminds consumers that the take-back service is completely free and anonymous, with no questions asked.

Additional collection sites in the surrounding local communities and neighboring counties also will accept unused or expired medications, including controlled medications. Participating sites include the Solano County Sheriff's Department coroner' s office in Fairfield; the police departments of Dixon, Rio Vista and Suisun City; and the Contra Costa, Napa and Sacramento County sheriff's departments, among others. A complete listing of collection sites, along with online resources from the DEA can be found at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html.

Take-back sites will accept tablets, capsules and all other solid-dosage forms of unwanted medication. Personal information may be blacked out on prescription bottles or medications may be emptied from the bottles into disposal bins provided by the local DEA office during the event. However, no used needles, sharps containers or aerosols are accepted.

Additionally, DGMC offers the Take-Away environmental-friendly program for Department of Defense beneficiaries who are seeking alternative means of disposing noncontrolled medications. Patients can bring their noncontrolled prescriptions in at any time to DGMC's main and Exchange pharmacies and be given a special envelope to mail them to the disposal facility.