Senior Leila Raymond said she views Drug Take Back Day as a significant program to combat drug abuse in our community.

“I think that it is an important initiative to help keep our community from accidentally abusing drugs and to prevent people from using expired drugs and misusing prescriptions,” Raymond said.

According to St. Louis Park Police Community Outreach Officer Alex Draeger, the police department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are hosting a Drug Take Back Day to collect old prescription drugs.

“Drug Take Back is an opportunity for anyone to dispose of unused prescription medication at no charge. The St. Louis Park Police Department is partnering with the DEA to collect and properly dispose of these unused prescription medications,” Draeger said.

Junior Amelia Huebsch said she believes removing unused drugs from medicine cabinets will be beneficial to the community.

“I think it’s a good thing to be able to get dangerous or addictive drugs or pills out of your home to keep other people safe in the community, and it declutters your space. It’s nice to get all of that old stuff out of your medicine cabinet,” Huebsch said.

Draeger said they will accept all prescribed medicine, but cannot accept any needles.

“We are unable to take needles, which would include EpiPens, but are happy to accept any unused prescription medication,” Draeger said.

According to Draeger, removing unused prescription drugs from homes helps reduce the likelihood of addictions and overdoses.

“This is an opportunity to properly dispose of powerful prescription medications. By getting these unused medications out of homes it helps eliminate opportunities for people to try them recreationally,” Draeger said. “Recreational use of these medications often leads to addiction and even overdosing.”

According to Huebsch, Drug Take Back Day is a good first step in preventing drug overdoses and addictions.

“I don’t think (Drug Take Back Day) is the only solution and I don’t think it’s going to solve everything, but I think it’s a good step towards ultimately helping solve the problem,” Huebsch said.

Draeger said misuse of prescription drugs is very unsafe and has led to many overdoses nationwide and in St. Louis Park.

“Our officers have responded to countless overdoses where individuals intentionally and unintentionally take a pill that someone gave them,” Draeger said. “This is terrifyingly dangerous because we are seeing a dramatic increase in overdose deaths across the country including here in St. Louis Park.”

Draeger said drugs will be accepted at the police department on Oct. 27, after which they will be disposed of at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) burn site.

“Drug Take Back Day will be Saturday, Oct. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the police department. An officer will be there to accept the medications, then the DEA will pay for the disposal at an EPA approved burn location,” Draeger said.