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Community Corner

Give Unwanted Drugs to Police

WPD will join a national campaign to address drug abuse and environmental harm by accepting unwanted prescription drugs.

On April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Watsonville Police Department, in partnership with Santa Cruz County and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. The program also protects our environment by providing an alternative to harmful disposal of unwanted medications down the drain.

Local residents can bring their medications for disposal to the police department at 215 Union St. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. No hypodermic syringes will be accepted.

Last October, Americans turned in 377,080 pounds—188.5 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,300 sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement partners. In its three previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in almost a million pounds—nearly 500 tons—of pills.

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This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Four days after the first event, 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 to 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. DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months. Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like Watsonville PD and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events and will have a green medical drop-off bin located in the police department lobby on an on-going basis.

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Manny Solano is the chief of police in Watsonville.

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