The MTSU campus community and general public are being encouraged to participate in the fall MTSU Drug Take-Back Day Thursday, Oct. 25, from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. near the Campus Pharmacy drive-thru.

Expired, unused, and unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medicines will be accepted. To find the drop-off location adjacent to the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center, visit www.mtsu.edu/parking/2018ParkingMap.pdf.

Fourth-year Lipscomb University pharmacy student Wisdom Onyegbule keeps count of an unwanted prescription and other medications turned in by members of the MTSU community during the MTSU Drug Take-Back Day held in April outside the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center. This fall’s campus Drug Take-Back Day is Thursday, Oct. 25. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Sponsored by the Campus Pharmacy and the University Police Department, the drug take-back event is part of an ongoing national collection drive led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. This fall’s National Drug Take-Back Day is planned for Saturday, Oct. 27, around the country.

The collections are an effort to remove excess drugs from communities where they could be abused or misused, diverted into the wrong hands or disposed of in environmentally unsafe ways.

More than 200 pounds of medicine have been collected at MTSU drug take-back events since 2016, said Lisa Schrader, director of MTSU’s Health Promotion Office. About 400 tons of medicines have been discarded nationwide since take-back events began in 2010.

Campus officials request that, if possible, people turning in unused medications on Oct. 25 leave the drugs in their original packaging and mark through any personally identifying information on prescription medicine labels.

Sharps and needles can’t be accepted at this event, organizers said.

The DEA’s National Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, secure, and environmentally responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs while also educating the general public about the potential for abusing and trafficking medications.

The DEA reports that nonmedical use of controlled substance medications is at an all-time high. A study sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration revealed more than 54 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers got them through friends or relatives, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

MTSU pharmacist Tabby Ragland, left, accepts a bag of discarded prescription and over-the-counter medications brought by Thong Bacon of Murfreesboro in April during the spring MTSU Drug Take-Back Day. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)