The totals are in, and a total of 1,160 pounds of unneeded prescription drugs were turned in at sites in 11 northern Oklahoma counties during a take-back event last month.
"That is approximately 256 pounds more than we collected last year in the fall, and we’re looking ahead to doing another prescription drug take back this upcoming fall based on the success of these last two take-back initiatives," said U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma Trent Shores.
Shores encourages people not to become “unwitting drug dealers” by keeping old or unneeded prescriptions, many of them powerful painkillers, in their homes.
"Those are sitting there maybe tempting a friend, a neighbor, a family member who is developing or has an opioid or other prescription drug addiction problem to sneak in there and take those prescription medications out of your drug cabinet without you knowing it," Shores said.
An American dies roughly every 11 minutes from an opioid-related overdose. Most of Oklahoma's approximately 1,000 overdose deaths a year now involve opioids.
The Drug Enforcement Administration collected close to 1 million pounds of prescription drugs nationwide on April 28th.
