The Enumclaw Police Department in partnership with the Foothills Healthy Community Coalition, a part of Enumclaw Regional Healthcare Foundation, will host a Drug Enforcement Administration Prescription Take Back from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Enumclaw Police Department.

This marks the ninth DEA Take Back in four years, providing opportunities to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

Local residents can take pills for disposal to the Enumclaw Police Department at 1705 Wells St.  The DEA cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps, only pills and patches.) The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked.

Last April, Americans turned in more than 780,000 pounds of prescription drugs at nearly 6,100 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,400 of its state and local law enforcement partners.  When those results are combined with what was collected in its eight previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 4.1 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.

DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or their family member or pet owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.

Foothills Healthy Community Coalition and the Enumclaw Police Department are working to set up a permanent disposal site in Enumclaw.  At this time the Buckley Police Department has a permanent drop box available 24 hours a day, every day, at 146 S. Cedar St.

For questions about the Enumclaw effort, call 360-802-3206.