Drug Take-Back Makes Big Impact

On Monday, May 2nd, the Dane County Narcotics Task Force and Safe Communities assisted the Wisconsin Department of Justice in a statewide prescription drug take-back program.
The coordinated effort resulted in the collection of 218 boxes of drugs from Dane County. The boxes were collected by members of the Task Force and delivered to a regional drop-off site for proper and safe disposal. The total gross weight of the 218 boxes was estimated at 3805 pounds.
Unused prescription medications in homes can create a public health and safety concern, because they can be accidentally ingested, stolen, misused and abused. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2015 more people died in the U.S. from drug overdoses than in any other year on record. Overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled since 1999, and so have sales of prescription drugs. From 1999 to 2015, more than 165,000 people died from overdoses involving prescription opioids. The most common prescription drugs involved in overdose deaths are Methadone, Oxycodone and Hydrocodone.
If you have leftover or expired prescriptions in your medicine cabinet, go to http://www.safercommunity.net/meddrop.php to find out where you can dispose of them safely.