Police to Accept Unused Prescription Drugs No Questions Asked

Residents can safely dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs on Saturday, April 26.

The Gaithersburg Police Department and other allied law enforcement agencies, in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration, will help residents rid their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

Bring your unused medications for disposal to the Gaithersburg Police Station at 14 Fulks Corner Avenue between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. No liquids or syringes, please. The service is free and anonymous, no questions will be asked.

There are 11 drop-off locations in Montgomery County. Others in the Gaithersburg area include Montgomery County’s 1st District Police Station at 100 Edison Park Drive and the 6th District Police Station at 45-A West Watkins Mill Road.

Last October, Americans turned in more than 647,000 pounds of prescription drugs at more than 4,114 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with what was collected in its seven previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in more than 3.4 million pounds of pills.  

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, disposing of unused medicines by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash both pose potential safety and health hazards to the water supply.

For more information visit the City’s website athttp://www.gaithersburgmd.gov or the DEA website athttp://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/.