Lakewood Police Collecting Unneeded Medication At Take Back Day

LAKEWOOD, NJ — If you have medications you no longer need in your home, Lakewood police will be collecting them Saturday as part of the National Drug Take Back Day.

The nationwide effort, led by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, aims to get unused and expired medications out of homes to prevent them from winding up in the streets or in the hands of those battling addiction.

Opioid deaths have increased during the coronavirus pandemic, with 87,200 Americans dying as a result of a drug overdose from Sept. 1, 2019 to Sept. 1, 2020, the most ever recorded in a 12-month period, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

The DEA started the national Take Back Day 10 years ago and said the effort has brought in more than 6,800 tons of prescription medication, including nearly 500 tons in October 2020. Those medications are incinerated.

With studies indicating a majority of abused prescription drugs come from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets, clearing out unused medicine is essential, DEA officials said.

Lakewood police will be collecting from 10 a.m. to noon at Leisure Village East, Lions Head Woods, and Leisure Park, and from noon to 2 p.m. at Harrogate, Original Leisure Village, and Horizons Woodlake Club House.

Residents can turn in tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illegal drugs will not be accepted. Vaping devices and cartridges can be turned in provided lithium batteries are removed. Personally identifying information on the prescription bottles can be removed as well.

New Jersey residents turned in more than 18,000 pounds of unwanted, unused or expired prescription medications in October 2020, and have turned in almost 300,000 pounds since the program inception in 2009, the DEA said.

Lakewood police have a Project Medicine Drop secure drop box in the lobby at police headquarters. Dropoffs can be done anonymously seven days a week.

Click here to get Patch email notifications, or download our app to have breaking news alerts sent right to your phone. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com Follow Lakewood Patch on Facebook.