UD participates in national effort to collect unwanted, expired medications

7:55 a.m., Sept. 19, 2012--The University of Delaware will participate in National Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 29.

Potentially dangerous unwanted, unused or expired prescription or over the counter medications such as pills, liquids or ointments can be dropped off at the UD Public Safety building, 413 Academy St.

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Also accepted at the UD location will be sharps. Inhalers, however, cannot be accepted.

Free parking will be available. Materials will be incinerated, so it is not necessary to remove the labels from bottles.

The collection is offered by UD Public Safety and the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies in conjunction with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Also, the Newark Police Department will collect medications the same hours that day at the Newark Senior Center, 200 White Chapel Dr.

Last April, Americans turned in 276 tons of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,659 take-back sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement partners. In its four previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took 1.5 million pounds — 774 tons — of pills.

The initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. 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, 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.

For more information on the UD collection, contact Mary Perno, University/Schools Alliance coordinator with the Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies at mperno@udel.edu or 302-831-4470.