In September 2014, the Drug Enforcement Administration held its last Drug Take-Back Day. These events were started four years ago as a way to remove harmful, abusable and addictive medications from households around the country. Now, the DEA has established alternate outlets that will be able to accept these drugs and send them off to be destroyed so no more Drug Take-Back Days are needed.
By survey, the majority of people who abuse prescription drugs get them from friends and family. By removing these drugs from households, they will never be able to cause a person to overdose. They will never move anyone closer to being addicted.
It’s not just members of the household who are protected when these drugs are disposed of. Any visitor to the household who has a hunger for pills may ask to use the bathroom and then take a look through the medicine chest to see what is available. It could be an adult family member, a friend of a teen in the house or even a repairman. Interviews with those who were addicted but then got sober reveal that drug-seekers may just remove as many pills as they think might not be missed, then put the bottle back. Other people may remove drugs from the bedside of a sick, injured or deceased person – a compelling argument for keeping pills locked up.
Doctors Taught to Treat Pain More Aggressively
For several years, medical doctors were taught that pain was being undertreated. It became a standard practice to prescribe a month’s worth of pills for nearly any painful event, including dental work, surgery or injuries. Since any short-term injury or minor surgery would often not require nearly this many pills, medicine chests all over the country began to accumulate pill bottles.
This practice is now changing. Many doctors are prescribing more appropriately for the magnitude of the injury or medical condition. The industry itself has come to realize how it has contributed to the epidemic of prescription drug addiction. Gradually, the number of pills in circulation will come down.
Massive Quantities of Drugs Collected
What is staggering about these Drug Take-Back Days is the huge quantities of drugs that were turned in. In four years, almost five million pounds of drugs were taken in – 2,411 tons. This massive quantity gives one an idea of the degree of overprescribing being done by American doctors.
Each year, 6.5 million Americans misuse or abuse these drugs. With these pills, liquids, patches and other substances off the market, fewer people will have this easy access to addictive and harmful substances.
To learn about locations in your community where you will be able to dispose of unwanted drugs, call the DEA Office of Diversion Control’s Registration Call Center at 1-800-882-9539.
http://www.dea.gov/divisions/hq/2014/hq110514.shtml