National Take Back Day
HAMMOND, LA – (April 26, 2017) - Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff Daniel Edward announces that each year, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office, in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), participates in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative. The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day provides a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.
This year, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office is partnering with Crime Stoppers of Tangipahoa, Tangipahoa Reshaping Attitudes for Community Change(TRACC), the Keeping Every Youth Safe Alliance (KEYS) youth leadership program, and Safe Communities America Hammond in this national initiative to save lives through the proper disposal of unused and unwanted prescription drugs. These partners will be onsite to distribute Proper Rx Disposal Cards to the public as well to kick off their 2017 Rx Safety campaign during which cards will be distributed to local businesses where the public can pick them up throughout the year. For more campaign information visit www.facebook.com/scahammond.
In recent years, we’ve seen that prescription drug abuse constitutes one of the greatest public safety and public health epidemics of our time, inflicting devastating, long-term, effects on individuals – and destroying families, neighborhoods, and entire communities – all across the country. Even more importantly, every individual has an essential role to play in creating awareness and educating themselves and others about prescription drug abuse. Recent surveys indicate that more than half of those who admit to abusing prescription painkillers said that they got drugs “from a friend or relative for free”– not from their own doctor. This illustrates the critical importance of getting old, unused, or expired drugs out of household medicine cabinets.
Protect yourself, your family, our community and the environment from improperly disposed of medications. Having unused or expired medication in your home can lead to medication errors, accidental overdoses and inappropriate use. Disposing of medication by flushing them down the toilet or a sink or throwing them, in the trash can lead to the contamination of the water supplies and landfills. Bring unused and unwanted prescription medications for proper disposal by law enforcement officials, reports Edwards.
Join us from 10 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Saturday April 29, 2017, in the TARGET PARKING LOT at the Hammond Square Mall to safely dispose of any unwanted prescription drugs you may have in your home or possession. We will accept prescription medications from 10AM – 2PM.
Syringes, needles or any other dangerous materials will not be accepted. If possible, please remove any personal identification from the medication bottles and boxes.
###
