There’s another opportunity on Saturday to clean out the medicine cabinet. It’s Prescription Drug Take Back in Wisconsin – the statewide collection of expired prescriptions. “We have great concerns in the state of Wisconsin about prescription painkiller abuse, and that it leads to heroin abuse in Wisconsin, which we know is an epidemic,” said Daneille Long with the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
This effort will continue to bring focus to the issue of prescription opiate abuse highlighted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Dose of Reality campaign to prevent prescription painkiller abuse.
“With the opiate epidemic devastating families and communities across our state, we must work together to remove unused prescription painkillers from circulation. They need to be collected and destroyed,” said Attorney General Brad Schimel said. “This program will also reduce the environmental hazards associated with the improper disposal of unused prescription drugs.”
The previous Drug Take Back event in May collected 40-thousand pounds of drugs. “It was two semi trailers that we disposed of,” said Long. “We’ve reserved three trucks for this time around, just because we have so many new departments on board with us.” You can find the nearest drop off location at doseofrealitywi.com.