The White Hall Police Department, headquartered at 8204 Dollarway Road, has partnered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and will be a collection site for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
"The more we can get people to monitor, secure and properly dispose of the medications, the more we can save lives through less accessibility of those that can intentionally or unintentionally abuse or misuse them" Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane said in a news release.
Arkansas' Drug Take Back Day will include more than 200 locations across the state Saturday. Hundreds of volunteers and first responders will be at those locations encouraging citizens to dispose of unused or expired medications. Officers won't ask for any identification or ask any questions regarding the prescriptions being dropped off.
The prescription medications will later be counted for statistical purposes and destroyed at a facility in an environmentally safe manner. Prescription medicines are a toxic waste and pose a danger to people, pets and the environment if they are not disposed of properly.
Medicines flushed or poured down the drain end up in the waterways, affecting drinking water. Medications thrown in the trash, even if they are mixed with materials such as kitty litter or coffee grounds, will still make it to a landfill and seep through the soil and into ground water. There's also a danger of people or pets finding medications in the trash.
Two-thirds of teenagers and young adults who report abuse of prescription medications say they get the majority of the medications from friends, family and acquaintances.
Authorities suggest the following tips to prevention drug abuse:
• Don't leave medication bottles or pill cases lying around.
• Don't store medicines in an unsecured medicine cabinet or bathroom drawer.
• Don't ignore warning signs (such as bottles that are tampered with, pills missing or drugged behavior of someone in the home).
• Do lock up medications in a lock box or hide them in a safe place.
• Do keep track of medications – count pills, make marks on liquid containers.
• Do keep track of refills – refilling medicine more often than expected can indicate a problem.
• Do encourage relatives, friends and neighbors to monitor medications and participate in the Arkansas Drug Take Back Day.
To find Drug Take Back Day locations, go to www.artakeback.org and look for the Collection Sites tab (or click this link: www.artakeback.org/takeback/collection-sites/) and type in a ZIP code.
While there, people can also download the NARCANsas app, a free resource containing information about administering Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, in case of an opioid overdose.