Abington Police to Take Your Drugs

If you’ve got some prescription drugs that recently expired — or if you’re holding on to some drugs that were made with a mortar and pestle, dispose of them this Saturday.

The Abington Police Department is participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Take-Back Day. The event gives residents a chance to dispose of their unwanted, unused and expired prescription drugs safely.

Residents may hand in the prescription drugs — no questions asked — at the police department’s records room on Saturday, Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The DEA will then collect and destroy the drugs.

According to the DEA’s website, the last national drug take-back day, held in late April, garnered 276 tons of unwanted prescription drugs; more than 5,600 take-back sites participated.

 Other agencies taking part in the event are:

Agency Location Address Upper Moreland Township Police Department Giant 315 N. York Road, Willow Grove Upper Dublin Township Police Department Police Department 801 Loch Alsh Ave., Fort Washington Rockledge Borough Police Department Police Department 1 Park Ave., Rockledge Horsham Township Police Department Giant 214 Horsham Road, Horsham

You may also plug your ZIP code into the DEA's Website to find a location.

“There’s a lot of ‘red tape,’ which makes it difficult to dispose of prescription drugs,” Abington Police Detective Sgt. Steve Fink said in an earlier interview. “We even get calls from pharmacies asking how to get rid of them. This [event] is no-questions-asked, and there's no paperwork. We collect the pills and take them to a central drop-off point for the DEA.”

At a prior event, Fink said the Abington Police Department collected more than 100 pounds of pills — it was “boxes and boxes of pills," Fink said.

And, of course, the no-questions-asked policy does not apply to illegal drugs.

Incidentally, the two Giant Food stores in Abington will not be participating in the drug take-back program because the stores dedicated resources to a gun buy-back program, which is happening the same day. 

See that story here.