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Prescription Drug Take Back Events A Success


AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - More than 100 law enforcement agencies across the state collected prescription and over-the-counter drugs in drug "take back" events on Saturday.

Car after car lined up as bags of prescription meds were dropped off.

"There were a lot of anti depressants; pain relievers, all kinds of stuff," Darlene Sibigtroth from Aurora said.

On the Fitzsimmons campus in Aurora 50 cars drove through in just the first half hour.

"I have two teenage kids, so i had a lot of child Tylenol still leftover," Larry Carrington from Aurora said.

It doesn't matter how long medicine has been sitting in the medicine cabinet. One prescription dated back to 1951. Some people hold on to them because they simply don't know what to do with it.

Throwing them away puts the environment at risk since medicine can eventually get into ground water. But the main concern is prescriptions getting in the wrong hands.

"We would hate for pets to get into medication or people that are looking for specific medications going through someone's trash and taking them," Dr. Sarah Anderson with the University of Colorado School of Pharmacy said.

"There's more deaths right now attributed to prescription drug abuse that's not prescribed for you than cocaine, heroin and meth combined," Special Agent David Schiller with the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

Among 12 to 17 year olds in the U.S. prescription drugs is the most abused drug.

"I thought of my grandchildren. I thought, 'Holy cow, what if one of them would decide to go to drugs and I would help them do that.' I can't do that," Sibigtroth said.

Whether it's one pill or several, the more that's disposed properly, the safer.

The drugs collected will be taken to Utah to be incinerated.

For more information on disposing of prescription medication safely, visit http://www.justice.gov/dea

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