Concord Prescription Drug Take Back -- No Questions Asked

CONCORD, NH -- Concord is participating in a national prescription drug take back effort Saturday. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., officers will be at the police station on Green Street collecting unwanted prescription drugs. Citizens can drop off pills, no questions asked. Needles 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 DEA said it typically collects 400 tons of drugs at more than 5,000 sites across the country.

Officials are expecting to collect a similar amount this time around.

"Too often, unused prescription drugs find their way into the wrong hands," former DEA Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said in a statement. "That's why it was great to see thousands of folks from across the country clean out their medicine cabinets and turn in - safely and anonymously - a record amount of prescription drugs."

A 2015 federal study reported 6.4 million Americans abuse prescription drugs.

"The study shows that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet," the DEA said in a statement. "The DEA's Take Back Day events provide an opportunity for Americans to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths."

The DEA take back events have netted more than 4,000 tons of prescription drugs since 2010, officials said.

Related:

• DEA National Drug Take Back Collection Site Search
• Prescription Drug Drop Box Search

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