Police To Run Prescription Drug Disposal Day Saturday

The Barnegat Police Department is partnering with the Drug Enforcement Administration to once again offer “Operation Take-Back” to Barnegat residents, a regular one-day drug collection event designed to collect potentially addictive prescription drugs for safe disposal.

Residents can bring their expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs to the from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday, Oct. 29, said police.

The service is free and anonymous, and similar programs will occur around the country.

The aim, said police in a news release, is to prevent pill abuse and theft. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are high and climbing, and it’s an issue that hits home locally. Barnegat has been at the center of prescription drug arrests in the last year alone.

According to the release, studies show a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, and many are taken straight from the home medicine cabinet.

And tossing pills in the trash or flushing them down the toilet aren’t good options; according to the Environmental Protection Agency, doing so results in the chemicals in our drugs entering the water supply. 

Police said that during Take-Back events last April, Americans turned in 188 tons of prescription drugs at about 8,400 sites operated by the DEA and local law enforcement. The drug collection days will continue, they said, until the DEA finishes developing regulations that allow for permanent drop-off sites within communities.