Regional law enforcement is working to combat the opioid crisis with Prescription Drug Take Back Day

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) – Area law enforcement agencies are joining together to combat the nationwide opioid crisis by participating in the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day initiative.

Most opioid addictions in America begin with pills found in home medicine cabinets, according to a news release from the Warren County Drug Task Force.

According to law enforcement, more than 2,000 Kentuckians died of drug overdoses last year, or six people a day. Opioid-related deaths accounted for 90 percent of all overdoses in 2022.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office is urging people not to be “accidental dealers.”

“What you don’t want is for children to see this medication lying around and accidentally or intentionally ingest it,” Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower said.

Drug take-back events like these help prevent prescription medications from falling into the wrong hands.

“There might be children of a certain age who think they are trying out a family member's medication that hasn't been used,” Hightower said. “Some of these are prescription medications that can be very dangerous or even fatal if taken incorrectly.”

This initiative also ensures that expired, unwanted and unused prescriptions are properly disposed of and not released into the water system.

“If you throw those down the toilet or down the drain, they end up becoming part of our water system here, and so we'd rather offer those people the opportunity to go there and drop off those medications,” Hightower said.

All collected medicines are then taken to an undisclosed location where they are incinerated using a specific type of equipment for safe and environmentally friendly disposal.

This is the 15th year for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day with nearly 5,000 local collections this Saturday, October 26th. Drop-off takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The service is free and anonymous and no questions are asked.

There will be five collection sites in Warren County, plus one collection site will be added at Western Kentucky University.

• Bowling Green Police Department, 911 Kentucky Street
• Kentucky State Police, Post 3, 3119 Nashville Road
• Warren County Hazardous Waste Day, 999 Lauren Avery Drive (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
• Smiths Grove City Hall, 146 South Main Street
• WKU Police Department at 1906 College Heights Blvd.

Over the past 15 years, the DEA says they, along with their partners, have raised more than 18 million pounds of prescription drugs through these Take Back events.

Click here to learn more about the DEA's One Pill Can Kill initiative.

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