LAPD and DEA Taking Back Unwanted Prescription Drugs in Conjunction with Kaiser Permanente NA13183dm

What:   
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) 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.

***NO SHARP NEEDLES WILL BE ACCEPTED***
Bring your medications for disposal to the following collection sites:

When:   
Saturday, October 26, 2013
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Where:  
Location 1- Kaiser West LA
6041 Cadillac Avenue
Los Angeles, Ca  90034
Parking Lot #3
 
Location 2- Kaiser Panorama City
13652 Cantara St.
Panorama City, Ca  91402
Front of North 3 Medical Office
 
Location 3- Kaiser South Bay
Parkview Medical Office Building
25825 S. Vermont Ave.
Harbor City, Ca  90710

Location 4- Kaiser Sunset
4760 West Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, Ca  90027

Location 5- Kaiser Woodland Hills
5601 De Soto Ave
Woodland Hills, Ca  91367

Note: 
LAPD and Kaiser Representatives will be available at the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Hollywood (Location 4) to speak on the event.

The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked

Why:
In September, 2012, Americans turned in 488,395 pounds—244 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,200 sites operated by the DEA and state and local law enforcement partners.  Last April, 63 boxes of prescription drugs totaling 1,400 pounds were turned in at five local facilities.  In its five previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in more than 2 million pounds—1,018 tons—of pills.
 
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 are—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Four days after the first 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 is drafting regulations to implement the Act.  Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.