Arnold AFB holds Prescription Medication Take-Back event

  • Published
  • By Michael Crowder, AEDC Contributing Writer
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, TENN. --  The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) Detachment 106 will provide Arnold Air Force Base personnel with an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs through a Prescription Medication Take-Back event.

On Sept. 26 please bring your medications for disposal to Café 100 located at building 100 on Kindel Ave. and on Sept. 27 to the Base Exchange and Commissary from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day.

The AFOSI cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps, only pills or patches.

This service is free and anonymous. Agents must be present at the collection site, but no questions will be asked regarding the medication you are leaving other than to ensure there are no needles or sharps.

Last October, Americans turned in 324 tons, more than 647,000 pounds, of prescription drugs at more than 5,600 sites operated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. This was the second-largest collection of medications in the history of the Take-Back- program.

When the results of all the Take-Back events to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed over 4.1 million pounds (2,100 tons) of pills from circulation.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that lan-guish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

More Americans (6.8 million) currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens like LSD, and inhalants (sniffed household products) combined, according to the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines - flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash - both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Questions concerning this event may be directed to 454-4073.

Remember, the following options are available for you to dispose of your potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs:

Sept. 26 - Café 100 (10 A.M. - 2 P.M)

Sept. 27 - Base Exchange/Commissary (10 A.M. - 2 P.M)