Lake Tahoe Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 26

Have bottles of prescriptions sitting unused in your medicine cabinet?

A free and anonymous disposal site for expired and unused drugs will be in the Safeway parking lot at 1020 Johnson Blvd. on April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of National Drug Take Back Day. The El Dorado County Sheriff's and South Lake Tahoe Police Departments, in conjunction with the South Lake Tahoe Drug Free Coalition will be hosting the event. The Coalition will be on hand to answer any questions or address any concerns the public may have.

No questions asked, just drop off your pills or patches (no liquids or sharp instruments will be accepted). Remove or blacken out the patient's name on the bottle prior to dropping off.

Disposing of prescriptions into a sink or toilet may cause harm to the environment. Getting rid unused medication through a Drug Take Back Day ensures it won't fall into the wrong hands or contaminate the groundwater in your area.

Getting prescription drugs out of households will help keep these drugs out of the hands of those that weren't prescribed them.

Prescription painkillers are the most commonly abused by teenagers, followed by stimulant medications and over-the-counter cough medicine. These legal drugs are more frequently abused by teens in this country than heroin and meth combined.

The facts are sobering. Every day, 2,000 teens in this country abuse a prescription drug for the first time. Two-thirds of teens who abused pain relievers in the past year say they got them from family and friends. This includes getting them in their very own homes from their medicine cabinets. Opioid pain relievers, like OxyContin and Vicodin, are responsible for more deaths than cocaine and heroin combined.

Did you know that nearly one-third of parents say they believe ADHD medication can improve a teen's academic or testing performance, even if that teen doesn't have ADHD?