Crime & Safety
City of Falls Church National Drug Take Back Day April 30th
Falls Church police, DEA will have a collection site for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency wants your drugs, and Saturday morning, Falls Church residents can turn in their unused and leftover prescription drugs to the City of Falls Church police, no questions asked. It’s all part of the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, a follow up to their September take back day.
In September, a total of 242,000 pounds of prescription drugs were turned into over 3,000 state and local law enforcement agents who worked in conjunction with the DEA at sites in their communities.
The service is free and addresses an alarming national health problem, according to the DEA, the 2009 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that more than seven million Americans abuse prescription drugs. What’s worse, most people don’t know how to properly dispose of their prescription drugs and end up harming the environment by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the sink.
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“The worst thing you can do is throw them into the toilet or into the sink, because that actually goes to the water system,” Falls Church police officer James Brooks said. Brooks coordinated the Falls Church take back site with the DEA. This is his first time participating in the event.
According to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, everyday an estimated 2,500 teens across the U.S. use prescription drugs for the first time to get high.
Find out what's happening in Falls Churchwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“We’ll take the drugs no questions asked and dispose of them properly in conjunction with Virginia State Police and the DEA,” Brooks said. “Any drugs we receive are turned over to the DEA.”
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health’s (NSDUH) most recent survey found that more Americans abuse prescription drugs than heroin, cocaine and hallucinogens combined.
“We will not ask them questions about how they obtained the prescriptions, it is just a program to assure that your drugs are disposed of in a safe manner,” said Brooks.
Brooks also advised people to take the labels containing their personal information off of the drug vials to secure their anonymity.
The City of Falls Church site will be at the rear entrance of Fire Station #6 on Little Falls Road, Saturday April 30th from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information or to find a collection site in an area outside of Falls Church, log on to the DEA’s website at www.dea.gov.
