FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT

Major Lafayette Woods, Jr.

Operation Commander/Public Information Officer

870.541.5351-OFFICE/870.329.5652-CELL

Email: lafayette.woods@jeffcoso.org

AGENCIES JOIN TOGETHER FOR NATIONAL DRUG TAKE-BACK: Jefferson County, Arkansas – April 20, 2018-The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Tri-County Drug Task Force, and Regional 12 Prevention invite area residents to safely dispose of unwanted and expired medicines.

On Saturday, April 28th 2018 from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. as part of this year’s 15th National Take-Back Initiative, we are giving the public yet another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.  We ask that you bring your medications for disposal to the following collection site: 

• Super1Foods located at 2800 S. Hazel Street in Pine Bluff, AR., where the Sheriff’s Office Mobile Incident Command Center will be on sight. 

No liquids, needles or sharps will be accepted; only pills or patches.

The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

During last year’s 14th Annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back conducted on October 28, 2017, a total of 4,274 law enforcement partners from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA), state, local, and tribal agencies working at 5,321 collection sites, collected a record-setting 912,305 pounds (456 ton) of prescription medications that were ultimately removed from circulation.

When those results are combined with what was collected during previous Drug Take Back events nationwide since the fall of 2010 to present, members of law enforcement collected an astounding 9,015.668 pounds (4,508 tons) of drugs from members of the public at locations throughout the U.S. This is due largely to the efforts of our agency and others alike nationwide that assist with overseeing collection sites that collect more and more prescription pills each year. The initiative demonstrates the American public’s continued appreciation and need for the opportunity to discard unwanted, unused and expired prescription drugs from medicine cabinets, bedside tables, and kitchen drawers.

“The Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.  Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. A great number of people in our community have been directed or indirectly affected by prescription drug abuse and misuse, and this event allows local residents to be part of the solution. Disposing of unused or unwanted medications in a safe and secure environment is a critical step in fighting this devastating public safety health problem.”

Collection sites in every local community can be found by going to www.dea.gov. This site will be continuously updated with new take-back locations.