Drug takeback set for Saturday in Allegheny County

Residents of Allegheny County will have a chance to get rid of expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances Saturday.

The Allegheny County police are once again taking part in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) semiannual National Take Back Initiative from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Any over-the-counter, controlled substance or prescription drugs can be dropped off. Tablets, capsules, ointments, creams and liquids will be accepted in packaging and disposed of.

Sharps and syringes will not be accepted for safety reasons.

The event is absolutely anonymous and no questions or requests for identification will be made by law enforcement personnel to anyone submitting medications. Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not part of the initiative and should not be placed in collection boxes.

“We know that the United States has seen an increase in overdose deaths during the covid-19 pandemic,” said superintendent Christopher Kearns. “Locally, there have been 674 overdose deaths in the country alone during 2020. Everything that we can do to remove medications from the hands of people other than those to which they were prescribed is a positive step.”

Saturday’s collection will be held at three separate locations: the North Park Police Station at 700 West Ridge Drive, McCandless; South Park Police Station, 1801 Brownsville Road, South Park; and the Wilmerding Police Substation, 315 Station St., Wilmerding.

The October 2020 event resulted in collections of close to 500 tons of medicines. In the history of the event, more than 6,800 tons of unwanted medicines have been collected by various partners with the DEA.