Thousands of pounds of unwanted, unused and expired medications were collected in the state on Sept. 26 in an effort to combat drug addiction.
On the local front — as part of the 10th National Prescription Take Back Day — the South Brunswick Police Department collected 90 pounds of medication, according to South Brunswick Police Capt. James Ryan, while the North Brunswick Police Department turned over 80 pounds of prescriptions, according to North Brunswick Police Capt. Brian Hoiberg.
Throughout New Jersey, 211 police departments participated in the program at 215 collection sites.
New Jersey residents in total turned in 14,875 pounds, or 7.4 tons, of prescriptions in just one day, according to Carl J. Kotowski, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New Jersey Division.
The nine previous Take Back events nationwide from 2010-2014 resulted in 4.8 million pounds or 2,400 tons of unwanted medication collected. New Jersey residents surrendered more than 140,000 pounds or 70 tons of medication during that timeframe, according to Kotowski.
Every day, approximately 120 Americans die from a drug overdose, about half from prescription opioids and heroin. Prescription opioid abuse in many instances will transition to heroin use and abuse. “New Jersey residents once again did their part to remove the expired, unused or unwanted prescription medications from their homes. The first step in the prevention of abuse of these medications is removing access to them, and New Jersey residents did just that,” Kotowski said.
On Sept. 28, members of the DEA’s New Jersey Division collected the turnedin medications and had them incinerated.