Tempe police partnered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to collect hundreds of pounds of unused and expired prescription medications Sept. 25 at several drop-off locations in the city.
Residents anonymously dropped off bags full of expired medications at the Tempe Police substation on Hardy Drive and Warner Road, later to be disposed by the DEA.
“Medications end up sitting on bathroom shelves because people don’t know how to dispose of them properly,” Molly Enright, community affairs specialist for the city of Tempe, said.
“If you throw them in the garbage, you just never know where they are going to end up. Also, flushing medications down the toilet is a health hazard that adversely impacts our water supply.”
The drop-off represented a combined effort to take action against prescription drug use, addiction, theft and re-sale trafficking. Law enforcement officials oversaw residents as they placed bags inside a brown box, later wrapped up and sent to be incinerated.
“Kids are taking prescription medications found inside the parents’ medicine cabinets,” Enright said.
“It’s a big problem.”
What another great way to help keep drugs off the streets. It’s scary how something that can be prescribed to us can also be so deadly if not used correctly. The sad part is that our kids are searching for them to take or give to friends, so this is a great safe way to get them out of your house and out of the reach of kids.