The MTSU campus community, including the public, is welcome to join the next MTSU Drug Take-Back Day from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, near the Campus Pharmacy drive-thru.

Lisa Schrader, director of MTSU’s Office of Health Promotion, said expired, unused and unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medicines will be accepted. She added that if possible, people should leave medicines in original packaging and black out any personally identifying information on prescription medicine labels.

MTSU Campus Pharmacy pharmacist Tabby Ragland, left, accepts a bottle of unwanted prescription medication from Olivia Beaudry, an archivist for the MTSU Center for Popular Music, during the in October 2018 MTSU Prescription Drug Take-Back Day at the pharmacy drive-thru outside the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center. This year’s drug take-back day will be from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24. (MTSU file photo by Randy Weiler)

Unfortunately,  Schrader said, organizers won’t be able to accept medical sharps, such as needles, syringes, lancets (also called “fingerstick” devices) and auto injectors, at the MTSU collection event.

To find the drop-off location adjacent to the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center at 1848 Blue Raider Drive, visit www.mtsu.edu/parking/2019ParkingMap.pdf.

Lisa Schrader

Sponsored by the Campus Pharmacy and MTSU’s University Police Department, the semiannual drug disposal event is part of a national collection drive led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The event is part of the DEA’s 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.

The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, secure and environmentally responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs while educating the public about the potential for abuse and trafficking of medications.

The DEA launched the effort in 2010 and has collected and disposed of more than 10.87 million pounds of leftover drugs nationwide since then, including more than 900,000 pounds in the October 2018 event.

The nonmedical use of controlled substance medications is at an all-time high. A 2013 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)