Free Drug Take Back Program

This program is a great way to keep unwanted prescription drugs away from children and other potentially vulnerable persons.  It is also unsafe to flush medicines down your toilet because wastewater treatment plants are not designed to remove such chemicals, so pharmaceuticals end up in places like the Anacostia River and ultimately in our drinking water supplies.  I applaud MRPD for leading an effort that is good for our citizens and good for our environment!


City of Mount Rainier and the Mount Rainier Police Department Taking Back Unwanted Drugs
October 29th, 2011 at the Mount Rainier Police Department and Rainier Manor Retirement Center.

Mount Rainier, Maryland – On October 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Mount Rainier Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Bring your medications for disposal to the Mount Rainier Police Department located at 3249 Rhode Island Avenue and Rainier Manor Retirement Center at 3001 Queen’s Chapel Road.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

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.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Four days after last fall’s event, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.  DEA has begun drafting regulations to implement the Act.