Saturday April 30th is Drug Take-Back Day in Front Royal

On Saturday, April 30, 2022, representatives with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Valley Health will be at 120 N. Commerce Avenue in Front Royal to collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs as part of the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illicit drugs will not be accepted. DEA will accept vaping devices and cartridges provided lithium batteries are removed. The collection site hours will be from 10 am. to 2 pm.

“DEA is committed to making communities safer and healthier and the bi-annual Drug Take-Back Day is a prime example of this,” said Lt. Robbie Seal, Community Liaison for the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. We encourage everyone to remove unneeded medications from their homes as a measure of preventing medication misuse and opioid addiction from ever starting.”

Drug overdose deaths are up 16 percent in the last year, claiming more than 290 lives every day. According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a majority of people who misused a prescription medication obtained the medicine from a family member or friend.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, more than 106,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021, marking the most drug-related deaths ever recorded, with opioid-related deaths accounting for 75 percent of all overdose deaths.

For more than a decade, DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day has helped Americans easily rid their homes of unneeded medications—those that are old, unwanted, or no longer needed—that too often become a gateway to addiction. Working in close partnership with local law enforcement, Take Back Day has removed more than 15 million pounds of medication from circulation since its inception. These efforts are directly in line with DEA’s priority to combat the overdose epidemic in the United States.

A location finder and partner toolbox are also available at www.DEATakeBack.com for easy reference to April 30 collection sites throughout the region.