Join me at the Manchester Police Department on Valley Street from 10-12pm for National Drug Take Back Day!
o Each spring and fall, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration hosts National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
o DEA Take Back Day brings to light for everyday Americans how unused medications from their homes could end up in the wrong hands, unless they simply return them.
o With a focus on prevention and education (not just law enforcement), the DEA invites the public to safely turn in expired, unused or unwanted prescription drugs at designated collection sites from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27th.
o This April’s Take Back Day will include over 5,000 locations nationally.
o Finding your nearest collection site is easy – just visit DEAtakeback.com and enter your zip code.
· Reasons why
o As public awareness of the opioid epidemic’s severity increases, Americans are confronted with the reality that old stereotypes of drug addiction no longer apply; today, addiction often and unexpectedly hits close to home.
o Unfortunately, we now face a national epidemic reaching every corner of America.
o Prescription medications often end up in the wrong hands, feeding an epidemic that kills more Americans than car accidents.
o Every day, unused medications find a new home – whether they’re lost, stolen or misplaced – when they are not cared for responsibly. It takes awareness and an understanding of how we can each do our part, so medication doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
o Prescription drug misuse and overdose death do not discriminate – they can impact anyone of any age, race, gender or demographic.
· Statistics
o According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:
§ A report published by SAMHSA found that four out of five recent new heroin users had previously misused prescription pain relievers.1
§ In 2017, an estimated 3.2 million Americans age 12 or older reported misusing prescription pain relievers within the past month.2 This makes prescription opioid misuse more common than use of any category of illicit drug in the United States except for marijuana.
o According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):
§ More people die each year from drug overdose than from traffic accidents or firearms – a staggering statistic that challenges how people perceive the deaths and overdose of people addicted to opioids.
§ In 2017, more than 70,000 Americans died from a drug overdose; that is more than the number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War.
§ Sales of prescription opioids in the U.S. nearly quadrupled in the last 15 years
§ Primary care providers account for about half of opioid pain relievers dispensed