On September 27th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Watertown Police Department and the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your medications for disposal to the Watertown Police Department at 128 N. Maple St.
The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

After seven previous Take Back Days spread over almost four years, 780,158 pounds (390 tons) of
pills were brought to the 6,072 collection sites that DEA and its 4,423 state, local, and tribal law
enforcement partners set up on April 26 so the public could discard unwanted, unused and expired
prescription drugs from medicine cabinets, bedside tables, and kitchen drawers. When added to that collected at previous DEA-coordinated Take-Back events,4.1 million pounds (2,123 tons) of
prescription medications have been removed from circulation.

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, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.