Variety of Rx drugs collected during ‘Take Back’ event | Kent County Daily Times

Pills, patches and painkillers were among the variety of items collected locally during last weekend’s National Drug Take Back Day.

Sponsored by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the goal of the biannual event is to provide a safe and convenient way of disposing of prescription medications.  

“It’s a good program that collects a lot,” Lt. Matthew Blair of the Coventry Police Department said Friday of the initiative, now in its ninth year. “It’s staggering, but it’s good, because you get much more of a response than you’d think you would get.”

Drop off locations at CVS in Coventry and the police headquarters and the youth drop-center in West Warwick were among more than 6,000 designated collection sites nationwide last Saturday.

In Coventry, 70 pounds of prescription drugs were collected at the CVS on Tiogue Avenue. 

Blair called that “pretty consistent” with how much the department typically collects during drug take back events. He said the most that’s ever been collected in Coventry in a single day was around 100 pounds.  

The most common item collected was pills, Blair said. 

“Lot of pills, lot of schedule drugs, lot of opioid painkillers,” he said. “It was a pretty good variety of everything.”

The department also collected several fentanyl patches, used to treat severe pain in terminally ill patients, Blair added.

In West Warwick, meanwhile, West Warwick Police Chief Mark Knott wasn’t yet sure on Thursday of the weight of what was collected, but he said it was less than is usually dropped off during drug take back days. 

“It amounted to two boxes full,” he said, adding that the department ended up with three full boxes after last October’s take back event. 

The take back initiative is important to ensure the safe disposal of drugs that could otherwise cause harm to residents or the environment, Knott said. 

“It’s just safer for our community to properly dispose of these things,” he said, adding that medications left in cabinets are susceptible to misuse.

“Whether it’s something that kids could unintentionally get a hold of, or a junior chemist attempting to do dangerous things with them,” Knott continued. “We just prefer that they get disposed of safely.”

Blair echoed that. 

“It prevents diversion into the community, and prevents kids from getting their hands on things in their parents’ and grandparents’ medicine cabinets,” Blair said.

Plus, he added, medications not disposed of properly could end up contaminating the water supply. 

“A lot of people, especially in the past, seem to have wanted to flush pills down the toilet,” he said, “which ultimately will get them into our water supply.”

Although the take back day happens just twice per year, residents can drop off their unwanted prescription medications 24 hours per day, 7 days per week at either the CVS on Tiogue Avenue in Coventry or at the West Warwick Police Department.

kgravelle@ricentral.com