Oct 9, 2013 2 min read

Monongahela Valley Hospital and Carroll Township police will join forces during the seventh National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 26 at the circular driveway area outside of the Anthony M. Lombardi Education Conference Center.

Participants can remain in their cars and hand unwanted drugs to police officers through their windows.

Before visiting the collection site, participants should remove any personal information from the bottles or packages of expired, unwanted or unused controlled, noncontrolled or over-the-counter medications. Liquid products and creams in their containers will be accepted.

Donors remain anonymous, and police will not request identification.

Sharps and syringes will not be accepted due to the potential hazard posed by blood-borne diseases.

Afterward, law enforcement officers will seal the boxes containing the collected medicine, and the Drug Enforcement Administration will weigh the boxes and safely dispose of the items.

At the most recent Drug Take Back Day in April, the DEA collected 742,497 pounds – or 371 tons – of prescription medications at more than 5,829 locations. Since the program started, more than 2.8 million pounds – 1,409 tons – of prescription medications were removed from circulation.

To find other collection sites, search by zip code at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov, scroll down to the “Got Drugs?” ad and then choose “locate collection sites,” or call 800-882-9539.