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Properly disposing of prescription drugs

Most everyone likely has a little plastic bottle of unused, outdated pills sitting on a back shelf in their home.

Those medications might have been needed when the back went out, to battle a bug or to deal with an injury or surgery long since healed.

The practice used to be to flush such medications down the toilet or sink. But that’s now discouraged, considering that trace amounts of different pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, hormones, mood stabilizers and other drugs — have turned up in drinking water supplies and rivers and streams, according to media reports.

Yet keeping these medications in the home can be risky as well. A young child might stumble across them. Or an addict, hooked on prescription drugs, may decide to break in and go hunting.

“Far too many times we see a friend or family member’s medicine cabinet unknowingly becoming the source of an accidental poisoning, an overdose or abuse,” said Keith Martin, special agent in charge of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s Detroit Field Division, which oversees DEA efforts in Michigan, Ohio and northern Kentucky.

So best to get those drugs out of the household.

And Saturday, the Michigan State Police offers a way to do that, safely and properly.

The MSP again will partner with the DEA and other law enforcement agencies for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

MSP’s 30 posts, including the one in Iron Mountain, will participate by serving as drop-off points for state residents to discard expired, unused and unwanted pills, which will be destroyed.

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day takes place twice a year. During the April 2019 effort, MSP posts collected 1,184 pounds of prescription drugs.

All collected pills will be destroyed, with no questions asked. Liquids, inhalers, patches and syringes cannot be accepted.

The Iron Mountain MSP post is at 1916 N. Stephenson Ave. on the city’s North Side. Other collection sites across the state can be found at www.dea.gov.

Have something else that demands your time this weekend? Those unable to participate on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day can anonymously surrender prescription drugs at any MSP post from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays.

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