Tomorrow is the United States Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Drug Takeback Day.
The program is a national effort to properly dispose of expired or unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs, to avoid them falling into the wrong hands.
“In the past, if someone had a bottle of expired antibiotics, you know maybe it just went down the toilet and into our sewer system. Or you know, opiate crisis is big in the news, people unfortunately maybe divert or take medication from someone they know and abuse it themselves,” said Derrick Botkins, Director of Pharmacy Services at LewisGale Hospital.
Last year, LewisGale Medical collected over five hundred pounds of medication across its six collection sites. Over sixteen thousand pounds were collected across the commonwealth.
There are collection sites across the New River Valley, Roanoke Valley, Southside, Lynchburg area, and the Highlands.
