ALTON – Twice each year for the last seven years, the local community comes together to provide safe opportunities for proper disposal of unused medicines. OSF HealthCare is leading the way to help reduce the misuse of prescription medications with secure disposal boxes located at each hospital across the OSF HealthCare system. The Rx Disposal Box located at OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton is available for your safe disposal of unused drugs, year-round from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, located at the Front Doors to the Main Lobby.
On Saturday, April 28, the Alton Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal to the Alton Police Department at 1700 E Broadway, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The DEA National Rx Take Back service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
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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. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen 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.
For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the April 28 Take Back Day event, go to www.DEATakeBack.com.
