Toss pounds of pills properly this Saturday at take-back events

Elizabeth Brewer, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·1 min read

Apr. 26—TRAVERSE CITY — All three local law enforcement entities are banding together to help get and destroy the expired and unwanted drugs in people's medicine cabinets.

April 27 marks the Drug Enforcement Agency's 26th National Drug Take Back Day with participating police departments and sheriff's offices.

In total, between the Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office, the Traverse City Police Department and the Michigan State Police Traverse City Post, nine sites will be open for community members to safely and anonymously dispose of any unnecessary or expired pills and other pharmaceutical waste.

According to DEA data, 4,497 police agencies across the country collected 663,725 pounds of drugs during last year's event.

DEA's Detroit Division spokesman Brian McNeal estimates that 20,000 pounds of those drugs came from Michigan, making the state rank consistently in the top-five take-back programs nationally.

At the last local drug take back-day in October, deputies collected approximately 94 pounds of medication, Grand Traverse County Sheriff's Office Lt. Roy Raska said.

McNeal said organized efforts to get drugs off the street are important "because these drugs are often the fuel for a current addiction or a new one."

Police officials said the DEA accepts "household-generated pharmaceutical waste," pills and empty vape cartridges as part of the program.

"If put in the wrong hands accidental poisonings and overdoses could occur from these prescription medications," Traverse City Police Department Capt. Adam Gray said.

Year-round, Traverse City residents can also drop off unwanted medications at the Law Enforcement Center or at East Bay Township Hall.

Between May and October 2023, Raska said, the permanent drug-pod disposal box at the Law Enforcement Center collected 841 pounds of disposed pharmaceutical products.