Opioid Epidemic: Framingham Prescription Drug Take-Back Saturday

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Drop your old prescription drugs off at the Framingham Police Department Saturday to honor National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

The purpose of the day is to provide a "convenient and safe" way for residents to dispose of drugs and discourage abuse.

Residents are invited to bring pills, patches, liquids and ointments for disposal to 1 William Welch Way in the police department lobby between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked, officials wrote in an announcement. 

"This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish 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," Town Information officer Nichol Figueiredo wrote in ann announcement.

The opioid epidemic has taken the Commonwealth by storm, and legislators on both the local and state levels have been taking action to fight back against the disease of addiction.

In Framingham, there were six opioid-related deaths in 2012, three in 2013 and 10 in 2014. These numbers are from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's most recent data, which accounts for opioid-related overdose deaths from January 2012 to December 2014.

From the years 2000 to 2014, Middlesex County saw 1,634 opioid-related deaths, 238 of which were recorded in 2014 alone. The 2014 figure breaks down to an average of 4.4 opioid-related deaths per city and town in the county.

Middlesex County has had the most opioid-related deaths out of any county in the Commonwealth between 2000 and 2014.

Joe Lipovich (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Photo via Wikimedia Commons