Take-Back Day collects unused prescription drugs

This Saturday, Montanans with unused prescription pills and patches can dump those medications with no questions asked at one of 24 sites around the state as part of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

“In the previous Take-Back events held in April, over 4,300 pounds of prescription drugs were safely disposed of at 25 collection sites across Montana. While those numbers indicate great participation, I know we can do even better this Saturday,” said Attorney General Tim Fox. “Our state is in the midst of a substance-abuse epidemic, and prevention efforts are vital. Prescription drugs that sit in home medicine cabinets are highly susceptible to abuse, misuse and diversion.”

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to address the growing problem of prescription drug abuse by encouraging residents to rid their homes of these substances in a safe and environmentally friendly way.

Collection bins are located at local law enforcement offices year-round at the Whitefish Police Department, Columbia Falls Police Department and at the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. Items that will not be accepted include: illegal drugs, chemotherapy drugs, needles, sharps, mercury (thermometers), oxygen containers, pressurized canisters and radioactive substances.

Nationally, a total of 900,386 pounds was collected during the most recent Take Back event, held April 29 of this year.

Whitefish Police Chief Bill Dial, whose office has participated in the collection effort for four years, said participants will find a box located in the department lobby with detailed instructions and bags available. If help is needed, personnel will be standing by to answer any questions during lobby hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

“Number one: it keeps medication out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them,” Dial said. “Number two: it’s environmentally friendly because people in the past flushed them down the toilet, or flushed them down the drain.”

In years past, Dial said his office has collected between 4 and 5 pounds of prescription drugs including pain and blood pressure medications along with muscle relaxers.

Dial said abuse of these drugs is a rampant problem in Flathead County, especially as it relates to opioids — pain-relieving drugs that include heroin, hydrocodone and morphine among others. He said some drug users turn to prescription meds because they can be easier to acquire — folks with extra pills may give spares away or sell them, and Dial has also seen cases where cars have been burglarized so thieves could access the prescription medicine inside.

Since 2000, the rate of prescription drug overdose deaths has doubled in Montana. Methamphetamines have hit the state especially hard, notably during the 1990s and early 2000s. After the legislature formed the prevention program, the Montana Meth Project, meth-related crimes saw a 62 percent decrease from 2004 to 2007.

But the drug is making a concerning comeback: authorities have noticed increased meth activity throughout the state, beginning in 2015. That same year, more than 15 percent of high school teens reported taking a prescription drug without a prescription, according to the Montana Department of Health and Human Services.

Nationwide, the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 6.4 million Americans had abused prescription drugs, and that a majority of those medications were obtained from family or friends.