On September 27, the Brazoria County Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force, with support from many community organizations, hosted another official Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Prescription Drug Take Back Day in Pearland.

Prescription Drug Take Back Day is a national initiative to encourage citizens to turn in unwanted or expired medications for safe disposal at collection sites across the country. At September’s event, we hosted four sites in Brazoria County: Angleton, Lake Jackson, and two locations in Pearland. Across all four sites, we collected an astonishing 1,261 pounds of medications for safe disposal.

This Take Back event would not have been possible without the support of the entire community, including but not limited to: DEA; Brazoria County Constable Buck Stevensof Precinct 3, with special thanks to Deputy Wes Benefield; Brazoria County ConstableWillie Howell of Precinct 2, with special thanks to Deputy Christina Webster; Stella Roberts Recycling Center, with special thank to Wes Shows; Brazoria Co. Library System, with special thanks to Tom West; Keep Pearland Beautiful; and community volunteers, Carol Love, Tiana Boddy, Debbi Williams, Alabama Pham, Dalton Meyer, Edward Miller, and Miguel Moreno who volunteered their time to help.

This was the last Take Back event that will be sponsored by DEA. Brazoria County Community Coalition has participated in this event twice a year since 2012, and across those six events, citizens returned 6,672 pounds of medications, with 2,105 pounds coming from Pearland sites. That’s over one ton of drugs that were incinerated in Pearland alone! Additionally, Take Back helped raise awareness about the issues related to prescription drug abuse in our community, which led to the Brazoria County Permanent Prescription Drug Disposal Project.

Now there are six permanent Rx Drug Drop Boxes available to citizens every single day:Alvin Police Department, Angleton Police Department, Clute Police Department, Freeport Police Department, Lake Jackson Police Department, and Sweeny Police Department. For more information on this program, visit www.bacoda.org.

Each drug that is returned protects our youth and our community from prescription drug abuse and protects our environment and water supply. Thank you, Brazoria County, for taking action on safe disposal of unused medications!

Thank you to our friends at Silvercreek Tribune for sharing!