Sheriff departments in Maine are taking over a campaign to collect unused and expired prescription drugs because the federal Drug Enforcement Agency says it doesn’t have the money to continue National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
The federal drug take-back effort is being discontinued after about four years of drug collections on designated days in the spring and fall.
Some police departments and sheriff’s offices around the country have declined to take over the program because they don’t have the money either, said Matt Barden, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The Maine Sheriff’s Association has said it will continue the program and plans to host a drug take-back day April 25, according to a press release from Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster. Lancaster said sheriff’s departments in every county will participate.
In Somerset County, the cost will be shared between the sheriff’s department and several other agencies, including the Skowhegan barracks of the state police, Madison Police Department and the U.S. Border Patrol station in Jackman, he said.
“If we can get those prescription drugs that people no longer need or that are expired off the street and disposed of correctly, it would be well worth it,” Lancaster said.
National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day was started in 2010 by the DEA with the aim of reducing the number of unused prescription drugs on the street.
“When everybody in the country realized there was a pharmaceutical drug epidemic going around the country and people had no safe avenue other than to dump it into their toilet or in the sink … we said ‘What can we do?’ ” Barden said.
Since 2010, a total of 152,720 pounds of expired and unused drugs have been collected in Maine through the program, according to Lancaster.
Under a new federal law, people can return unwanted prescription drugs throughout the year at designated locations, so long as there are police departments, pharmacies and other agencies willing to run the programs, Barden said.
“Not that money should prevail over any of this, but when you’re talking about millions of dollars for every event, it became quite costly for something that was not funded into our budget,” Barden said.
In addition to the scheduled take-back next Saturday, April 25, Lancaster said, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office plans to expand the number of take-back opportunities and is accepting unused drugs from nursing homes and even private residences if people request it.
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