Politics & Government

Got Drugs? Surrender Unused Prescriptions to Police

National Take Back Drugs Day is Oct. 29 and meant to shed light on the dangers in your medicine cabinet.

More people die from overdoses of prescription drugs than from cocaine and heroine overdoses, combined, said Will Taylor, special agent for public information, Chicago field division, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“We’ve found through recent studies that most people are not getting drugs from a drug dealer; they’re getting them from friends and family and their own medicine cabinets,” Taylor said.

“People think it’s not an issue in my community, but prescription drug abuse has skyrocketed,” Taylor said.

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Taylor said people who beome addicted to prescription drugs are not the typical picture of a drug user.

“It could be the suburban mom who had an injury and then found herself overusing pain medication,” Taylor said.

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Many teens who are first time drug users start by experimenting with what is in the family’s medicine cabinet, he said.

According to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, approximately 2,500 teens a day use prescription drugs to get high for the first time.

The DEA has partnered with law agencies across the country to help people dispose of prescription drugs properly and to bring awareness to the issue of prescription drug abuse.

In the first two National Prescription Drug Take Back Days, held in September 2010 and April 2011, the DEA collected 309 tons of medications through the U.S.

“That’s over 600,000 pounds of medications. We do partnerships with state and local agencies and we have the medications disposed of properly,” Taylor said.

Most people dispose of drugs by throwing them in the garbage or flushing them down the toilet. Either of these options could contaminate waterways and wastewater treatment plants.

Four days after the first Take-Back event in September 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them, according to a DEA press release. 

The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. 

DEA has begun drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months. Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.

The next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the following collection sites:

  • , 1115 Crystal Lake Road
  • , 2200 Harnish Drive—Algonquin 
  •  654 Village Hall Drive—Cary 
  • , 100 W Woodstock Street—Crystal Lake 
  • , 10911 Main Street—Huntley 
  • Johnsburg Police Department, 3611 N Chapel Hill Road—Johnsburg 
  • Lakewood Police Department, Village Hall, 2500 Lake Avenue—Lakewood 
  • Woodstock Police Department, 656 Lake Avenue—Woodstock

Residents can bring prescription and over-the-counter, solid dose (tablets, capsules) medications in clear, sealed plastic bags for disposal.

Items not accepted include liquids, intravenous (IV) bags/solutions, needles, lancets, and sharps. Prescription labels should be removed (or personal information blocked out with a permanent marker) from plastic bottles before tossing into weekly curbside recycling containers, according to a news release from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.


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