DEA Drug Take Back In Attleboro Saturday

ATTLEBORO, MA — Attleboro is participating in a national prescription drug take back effort Saturday, April 28. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., officers at the police station on Union Street will collect unwanted prescription drugs. Citizens can drop off pills, powders and patches, no questions asked. Needles, liquids and inhalers are not being collected.

The collection is part of the Drug Enforcement Administration's ongoing series of National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events.

"The abuse of these prescription drugs has fueled the nation's opioid epidemic, which has led to the highest rate of overdose deaths this country has ever seen," Robert Patterson, acting administrator for the Drug Enforcement Agency, said in a statement. "This is a crisis that must be addressed from multiple angles. Educating the public and removing these medications from households across the United State prevents misuse where it often starts."

DEA officials cited a recent national survey that claimed 6.4 million Americans abuse prescription drugs. Most of those drugs are obtained from home medicine cabinets, according to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

The DEA said its last national take back effort in October netted 456 tons of drugs.

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