Residents will have a chance to ditch unused and unwanted medicine this Saturday, as part of National Drug Take Back Day.
The national Drug Enforcement Administration is coordinating events throughout the nation. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. residents can drop off materials at three locations: the Crossroads Police Substation, Factoria Mall Substation and Bellevue Police Department station in City Hall.
In April, Bellevue residents helped Washington state collect more than 8,535 pounds of unused or unwanted medicine (that’s roughly 4.25 million pills in a single day) during National Drug Take Back Day.
In Washington state, drug overdose is the most common cause of accidental death, superseding car accidents, with an average of two deaths per day; and medicine cabinets are the new drug dealers. According to the Washington State Department of Health, more than three out of five teens say prescription pain relievers are easy to get from parents’ or grandparents’ medicine cabinets. Still, Washington does not have a permanent take back program for controlled substances and over-the-counter medicines.