Drug Take Back Day is Saturday in Oak Ridge, Clinton, Norris, Rocky Top

Posted at 1:26 pm October 25, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Anderson County is participating in the 16th Annual DEA Rx Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 26. Community members can bring their expired or unused medicines to one of the Anderson County Take Back locations anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday.

Collection sites will be located at the police departments listed below. Each department will be set up outside in their respective parking lots to receive the expired or unused medicines.

Clinton Police Department, 125 West Broad Street, Clinton
Norris Police Department, 9 West Circle Road, Norris (will begin at 8 a.m.)
Oak Ridge Police Department, 200 South Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge
Rocky Top Police Department, 104 Lawson Street, Rocky Top

The National Rx Drug Take Back Day addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue, a press release said. According to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.4 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs, and that number has continued to climb in recent years. Studies show many of the misused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet. The Take Back Day provides an opportunity for Americans to prevent drug addiction and overdose deaths in the community and communities across the United States.

Items that are accepted for disposal include prescription medications (unwanted, expired, unused), antibiotics/steroids, cold and flu medications, vitamins/herbal supplements, pet medications, medication samples, and medication ointments/lotions.

Anderson County also has six permanent disposal bins located throughout the county—one in each police department in Clinton, Norris, Oak Ridge, Oliver Springs, and Rocky Top, as well as at Walgreens Oak Ridge next to the pharmacy counter, the press release said. These bins are available to community members anytime to dispose of unused or expired medications.

ASAP of Anderson participates in the Count It! Lock It! Drop It! campaign, a comprehensive community initiative to prevent prescription drug misuse, the press release said. In addition to disposal bins at each police department, ASAP of Anderson also offers free medication lock boxes to community members in Anderson County. Visit https://www.asapofanderson.org/quick-links/medication-lock-boxes/ to request free lock boxes for yourself or a family member. Organizations can also request lock boxes to distribute out into the community, the press release said.

To partner with ASAP of Anderson, learn more about its mission, or make a donation, go to www.ASAPofAnderson.org or call (865) 457-3007. For more information about Count It! Lock It! Drop It!, visit www.countitlockitdropit.org.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

You can contact John Huotari, owner and publisher of Oak Ridge Today, at (865) 951-9692 or [email protected]

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, sponsors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Most of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require at least four hours to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.