Drug Take-Back Event This Weekend In Lake Oswego

LAKE OSWEGO, OR — This weekend, law enforcement agencies in coordination with the Drug Enforcement Administration will host drug take-back events at local police departments across the country.

For the past seven years, the DEA has worked with its law enforcement partners to collect and dispose of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and/or unwanted prescription medications, ultimately taking in more than 8.1 million pounds of pills over 13 drug take-back events. During the last nationwide drug take-back event, 5,500 DEA-operated sites and 4,200 local police-operated sites collected around 900,000 pounds of prescription drugs.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 28, the Lake Oswego Police Department will accept unwanted and expired prescription drugs at the Lake Oswego Adult Community Center, 505 G Ave.

This service is free to all, with complete anonymity given to anyone interested in getting rid of their unwanted/unneeded medications.

"Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse," Multnomah County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chad Gaidos said in a statement. "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… (and) studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet."

Additionally, Gaidos said, personally disposing of medications by flushing them down the toilet or putting them in the trash to be take to landfills creates health and safety hazards to wildlife and the environment.

"Disposing of leftover painkillers or other addictive medicines in the house is one of the best ways to prevent a member of your family from becoming a victim of the opioid epidemic," DEA Acting Administrator Robert W. Patterson said in a statement. "More people start down the path of addiction through the misuse of opioid prescription drugs than any other substance. The abuse of these prescription drugs has fueled the nation's opioid epidemic, which has led to the largest rate of overdose deaths this country has ever seen."

Officials hosting the event ask that all medications meant for disposal be put into sealable plastic baggies before bringing them to the take-back event. No sharps, syringes, EpiPens, over-the-counter medications, or supplements will be accepted.

More drug disposal information can be found on the city's website.

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