Rx Return to repeat

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jill Ochoa
  • 75th Medical Support Squadron
HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah --  The 75th Medical Support Squadron; the 75th Security Forces Squadron; Paul Ashcraft, the Wingman Advocate for the 75th Air Base Wing; and the Drug Enforcement Agency are joining forces once again to provide Hill families a means for safe disposal of unused presecription medications.

During the first Medication Take Back Event in April 2011, 82 pounds of drugs were disposed of which added up to about 850 prescriptions.

This year's event, willl take place Saturday, Oct. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Commissary and the main entrance of the BX. If you can't make it to the event call the Department of Environmental Quality Hotline, (800) 458-0145, to find permanent disposal bins or visit www.useonlyasdirected.org to safely dispose of unwanted medications.

While proper disposal of unwanted medications may seem like a chore, there are important reasons this needs to be done in a safe and responsible way:

- Children and pets can find medications in your home or in your trash.
- You can prevent accidental poisoning and drug abuse by properly disposing of  medications.
- More than half of people who abuse drugs steal them from friends or relatives.
- Abuse of prescription drugs, particularly painkillers, has increased among teenagers and young adults.

Please DO NOT Flush your unused prescription and over-the-counter medications.

- Drugs flushed down the toilet cannot be removed by the sewer treatment plant or septic system.
- These substances then get into our streams, rivers, lakes, groundwater and our soil and may cause harm to the environment and to us.