Arizona Prescription Take-Back Collects Five Tons Of Drugs

By Alexandra Olgin
Published: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - 3:41pm
Updated: Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - 3:57pm
(Photo courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Agency)
Law enforcment collecting medication at a prescription take-back event on Saturday.

Ten thousand pounds of prescription drugs will be burned to ashes in southern Arizona.

The Drug Enforcement Agency is incinerating more than five tons of medication it collected during a statewide take-back event Saturday. DEA Agent Ramona Sanchez said flushing drugs down the drain is dangerous, because they can end up in water sources.   

“People can safely and environmentally dispose of these prescription medications that could otherwise end up in our drainage system or possibly subject these households to burglaries or robberies," said Sanchez. 

Sanchez said because the resale of prescription drugs can be profitable, houses that keep old medications could be targeted by thiefs. Over 60 state, local and tribal law enforcement officials collected pills at 90 locations around Arizona. In seven take-back events in the past three years, the Arizona DEA has collected 58,000 pounds of prescription medications.