PORT ANGELES — Drug Take Back Day is Saturday in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Law enforcement agencies are participating in the national event sponsored by the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to provide a way for residents to dispose of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs safely.
Drugs can be dropped off anonymously, with no questions asked, and at no charge between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday at the scheduled locations.
In Clallam County, disposal locations are:
• Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles.
Here, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, the Port Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Port Angeles Healthy Youth Coalition will accept unwanted drugs for safe disposal.
Residents are to drive through in front of the incident command motorhome near the courthouse in the main parking lot.
To further ensure the safe storage of prescription medication and other substances, the Port Angeles Health Youth Coalition will hand out medication lock bags to take home at no cost, while supplies last. Each bag is white laminated nylon and can hold up to 24 prescription bottles.
• Sequim Police Department, 152 W. Cedar St., Sequim, where drugs also can be dropped off any time during regular office hours, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Also, independently though Med-Project LLC, people can drop off unwanted drugs and medications during the rest of the year at Med-Project kiosks in the Sequim Police Department and at the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, except for holidays.
In Jefferson County, these are:
• Quilcene Fire Rescue, 61 Herbert St., Quilcene;
• Port Hadlock QFC parking lot, 1890 Irondale Road.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the county Public Health Department and the Quilcene and Chimacum Empowered Teens Coalition.
Also, the sheriff’s office, at 79 Elkins Road in Port Hadlock, is routinely open each Monday through Friday during office hours for medication disposal.
The collection service includes both controlled and non-controlled prescription drugs as well as over-the-counter medications. People also may drop off vaping pens without the internal batteries for destruction.
No collection point will accept syringes, liquids or medical waste.
Law enforcement officials remind people to never flush prescription drugs down toilets or sink drains.
“Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs,” The DEA said in a press release.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that, in the United States, more than 106,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021, marking the most drug-related deaths ever recorded, with opioid-related deaths accounting for 75 percent of all overdose deaths.
The FDA also provides information on how to properly dispose of prescription drugs. More information is available at www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines.
This April’s event is the DEA’s 22nd nationwide event since it began 12 years ago.
Last fall, Americans turned in a total of 744,082 pounds of prescription drugs at 4,982 collection sites.
The DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has now collected nearly 7,634 tons of expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications since the inception of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative in 2010.
