National Prescription Drug TakeBack Day is This Saturday.....Which Brings Questions to Mind....

Okay, we all know this Saturday is the drug take-back day...But what is the safest, most legal method to bring the drugs back while protecting privacy and obeying all the laws?

Google is getting behind the HUGE prescription pill take-back day this Saturday from 10AM-2:00PM.

There are multiple locations in the greater Pensacola area where local residents can turn in these old medicines.

They have a link to some really great and helpful information on their homepage.

The stats given at this google subject page are sobering.

--192 Overdose Deaths Daily in America (60% Opioids)
--191 Million Opioid Prescriptions filled in 2017 alone--in one year!
--18 Million Americans misused prescription medication--in just the last year alone
--More than 50% of prescribed opioids go unused--but they are not safely stored or secured

I learned a lot about all the overdoses nationwide (over 400,000 in the US since 2000) and also about a great program locally that is being started to help save a person's life if that person is overdosing.  Free Narcan is finally making its way to the greater Pensacola area--thanks to some great local nonprofit agencies!

So as it relates to this Saturday's take back program (where I realized the local grocery store where I shop on Saturday's is a collection point)--I became curious as to what the best and legal way to transport drugs to the collection point might be...

The google site talks about dumping all the pills into a bag and taking that bag to the store---which immediately threw up a red flag to me...If a person did that and happened to be stopped on the way to the pill collection site, and was found to be in possession of controlled substances without a prescription--this could be a FELONY and one that carries a MANDATORY minimum sentence if convicted of the offense.  On the flipside--who wants to bring all the pill bottles with their names and the medications all over the bottles to the site?  What about our privacy?

And how about this one:  Can I bring my wife's old medications-or my children's old medications--seeing as I could be carrying controlled substances that are not mine??

So I certainly had some significant reservations

So I called the non-emergency police line and spoke with the desk sergeant at the Police Department.

He suggested that I definitely NOT dump all pills into a bag and then transport.  "That could be a problem if you were stopped" he stated.   I asked about bringing medications that were not mine, like my wife's.  "That should be alright, since we know that from time to time a husband actually goes to the pharmacy and picks up his wife's medicine, and vice versa."  he continued.

We chatted briefly and then we both came to what seems to be the most logical, safe, and legal way to bring the pills to the site:

"I would recommend that you transport the pills in the original prescription pill bottles--then empty them into one bag at the drop site--at which point you could take the bottles home and destroy them however you would like." He stated flatly....  That method was echoed when I spoke to a representative from the Escambia County Sheriff's Office as well.

So perhaps that is the safest way to go.

But I definitely WOULD NOT just throw a bag of pills in the car and drive them across town to a drop off point--that would be a huge legal risk.