Prescription Drug Take Back Day Set For Today
By Brevard County Sheriff // April 25, 2014
dispose of unwanted drugs
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies are teaming up with the Drug Enforcement Administration on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. til 2 p.m. to provide a venue for persons who want to dispose of unwanted and unused prescription drugs.
Medication disposal is quickly becoming an important and alarming issue. What happens to all the prescription or over-the-counter medications that are brought home, but end up unused?
Our choices have often been to leave them in the medicine cabinet, throw them in the trash or flush them down the sink or toilet.
Please Don’t Keep Un-needed Medications: Keeping old medications in the house can lead to accidents. People sometimes get confused about which drugs to take, or take expired medication which can be ineffective, even dangerous. Children or grandchildren can find the medicine, which could easily lead to overdose, addiction and possibly even death.
Please Don’t Throw Medications Away: Drugs thrown in the trash are a public and environmental safety concern that can wind up in the hands of children, drug users or be consumed by animals.
The drugs that make it to the landfill can leach into and the soil and contaminate groundwater. Identity theft can occur from the personal patient information on the medicine containers when discarded.
Please Don’t Flush Medications: Disposing of medications down the sink or toilet is very harmful to the environment. Sewage treatment plants are not designed to remove all drug compounds and chemicals released during the water treatment process.
Certain drugs kill beneficial bacteria responsible for breaking down waste and can also damage septic systems. Treated water is being introduced into streams, lakes and groundwater and directly affects fish and other aquatic wildlife.
So What Can You Do? You can drop off your unwanted and expired medications with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. The medications will then be safely processed and destroyed.
What Can You Drop Off? The Sheriff’s Office will accept all non-prescription over-the-counter medications, prescription medications and even pet medications. You can bring in pills, liquids, ointments and lotions.
You can leave the medications in the original packaging container or put it in a sealable plastic bag. You can even combine medications in one bag. If you bring in a liquid medication, please put the bottle in a sealable plastic bag to avoid leakage. No I.D. or signatures are required.
What Can’t You Drop Off? The Sheriff’s Office cannot accept syringes, asthma inhalers, drugs in aerosol canisters or chemotherapy drugs either in IV liquid or oral form. If you need to dispose of these forms of medications, please call your pharmacist for assistance.
The effort is designed to educate the public and raise awareness about the problem of prescription drug abuse and improper disposal. The problem has reached epidemic proportions, with prescription drugs as the number one abused drug in the United States, surpassing all other illicit drugs.
DROP-OFF SITES
• Hobbs Pharmacy: 133 N. Banana River Drive, Merritt Island
• Health First Viera Hospital: 8745 N. Wickham Road, Viera
• Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital: 699 W. Cocoa Beach Causeway, Cape Canaveral
• Melbourne Police Department: 650 N. Apollo Boulevard, Melbourne
• Indialantic Police Department: 220 5 Avenue, Indialantic
• Health First Palm Bay Hospital: 1425 Malabar Road NE, Palm Bay
• Walgreens: 1098 SR A1A, Satellite Beach
