UAPD Hosting Rx Drug Take Back Event

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Members of the University of Arkansas community are encouraged to drop off used, expired or unwanted prescription drugs during a Prescription Drug Take Back Event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Thursday, April 21 outside the Arkansas Union.

The event is sponsored by the Northwest Arkansas Tobacco and Drug Free Coalition and University of Arkansas Police Department.

Abuse of prescription drugs has become a serious problem across the country, with families and friends often the unwitting providers of the medications that are taken from their medicine cabinets.

“I’ve read that prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing form of drug abuse in the country, among both young people and adults,” said UAPD Capt. Gary Crain. “Getting these used or expired drugs out of the medicine cabinet to a place they can be disposed of safely is one effective way of preventing this kind of drug abuse.”

UAPD also has a permanent disposal box where medications can be dropped off, no questions asked, that is located outside UAPD offices in the Administrative Services Building on Razorback Road. The box was donated by the coalition in 2014 and provides the campus community a place to safely dispose of used or expired prescription drugs all year long.

The Northwest Arkansas Tobacco and Drug Free Coalition is funded in part through a federal Drug Free Communities Grant, and used this funding to donate the Rx disposal box and organize the Drug Take Back Event.

“One of the best things about Drug Free Communities Grant is that it allows us to solve local problems with local solutions,” said Chris White, grant manager for the coalition. “Instead of the federal government telling drug-free activists what to do, it allows us to connect resources that are specific to an individual community. Although our grant is focused on reducing youth substance use, we understand we understand the best way to affect youth is by targeting adult populations. This is why we have purchased RX boxes for the community.”

White says that anyone taking prescription drugs should remember to take them only as prescribed; never share them with anyone; always store them safely; and dispose of unused medicine immediately.