Beebe Medical Center Joins the State of Delaware in Taking Back Unwanted Prescription Drugs
Drugs are being collected October 26 – 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Tunnell Cancer Center
Beebe Medical Center is joining the State of Delaware in participating in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) effort to give the public the opportunity to rid their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.
The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. Members of the public will be able to bring prescription drugs to the lobby of the Tunnell Cancer Center on Saturday, October 26, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tunnell Cancer Center is conveniently located in the Beebe Health Campus at 18941 John J. Williams Highway in Rehoboth Beach. This is the seventh time in three years that this nationwide drug take back event has taken place.
Last April, Americans turned in 371 tons (over 742,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 5,800 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. In its six previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2.8 million pounds—more than 1,400 tons—of pills.
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 United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including 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.
DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or pet or their family member or owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.
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Beebe Medical Center is a not-for-profit community healthcare system with a charitable mission to encourage healthy living, prevent illness, and restore optimal health for the people residing, working, or visiting in the communities we serve. It offers services throughout Southern Delaware including a 210-licensed-bed hospital, a cancer center, and outpatient facilities at multiple sites providing lab, imaging, physical rehab services and walk-in care. For more information, please visit us online at www.beebemed.org
