Prescription Drug Take Back Day at Fremont Township

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The Lake County Sheriff’s Office and the Coalition for Healthy Communities are sponsoring Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Fremont Township Administration Center, 22385 W. Route 60 in Mundelein, IL.

This one-day event will provide residents with no-cost, anonymous collection of unwanted and expired medicines.

It’s a great time to clean out your medicine cabinet! Protect our kids, families and environment by properly disposing of your unwanted and expired medicines. Medicines in the home are a leading cause of accidental poisoning and flushed or trashed medicines can end up polluting our waters. Rates of prescription drug abuse are alarmingly high – over half of teens abusing medicines get them from a family member or friend, including the home medicine cabinet, and often without their knowledge.

Last April, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported that 780,158 pounds (390 tons) of pills were brought to 6, 072 collection sites nationwide that the DEA and its 4,423 state, local and tribal law enforcement partners set up so the public could discard unwanted, unused and expired prescription drugs from medicine cabinets, bedside tables, and kitchen drawers. When added to that collected at previous DEA-coordinated Take-Back events, 4.1 million pounds (2,123 tons) of prescription medications have been removed from circulation nationwide.

This 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 United States 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.

If you have questions about the event, please contact Deputy Sheriff Roman Buchberger at 847-377-4211 or email him at rbuchberger@lakecountyil.gov.