[BYNAME]By Tracy Manzer
<MC>Staff Writer
[BODY]LONG BEACH -- With prescription drug abuse and theft rates soaring police and city health officials are joining a national effort to reduce the number of expired and stray pills that clog home medicine cabinets and cupboards.
The Long Beach Police Department and the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services will hold a pill disposal program as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Pharmaceutical Take-Back initiative.
The initiative seeks to combat prescription drug abuse and theft through the collection of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescriptions, said Nancy Pratt, an LBPD spokeswoman.
"Many Americans are not aware that medications that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse," Pratt said. "Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs."
Pratt said studies show the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets. In addition, many people don't know how to properly dispose of unused medications, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away, both of which pose safety and health hazards.
To reduce the risks the LBPD and the DEA will hold a free drive-through style collection of medications, no questions asked, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Health Department's Headquarters, 2525 Grand Ave., in Long Beach.
<MC>Staff Writer
[BODY]LONG BEACH -- With prescription drug abuse and theft rates soaring police and city health officials are joining a national effort to reduce the number of expired and stray pills that clog home medicine cabinets and cupboards.
The Long Beach Police Department and the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services will hold a pill disposal program as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration's National Pharmaceutical Take-Back initiative.
The initiative seeks to combat prescription drug abuse and theft through the collection of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescriptions, said Nancy Pratt, an LBPD spokeswoman.
"Many Americans are not aware that medications that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse," Pratt said. "Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs."
Pratt said studies show the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets. In addition, many people don't know how to properly dispose of unused medications, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away, both of which pose safety and health hazards.
To reduce the risks the LBPD and the DEA will hold a free drive-through style collection of medications, no questions asked, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 25 at the Health Department's Headquarters, 2525 Grand Ave., in Long Beach.
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