O’Fallon Police Host Prescription Drug Take Back

The O’Fallon Police Department and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will join 269 law enforcement agencies throughout the region on Saturday for their annual prescription drug take-back.

Residents are encouraged to bring in any old medications from a pharmacy or over the counter, including pills and liquids.

No syringes, biohazard or radio active materials will be accepted.

O’Fallon Sgt. Robert Kendall said prescription medicines are the number one abused drugs in the country and this is the safest way to get rid of them.

“We’ve seen an increase with high school kids,” he said. “They experiment with mom and dad’s old drugs.”

Kendall said “pharm parties,” where teens gather and swap prescription pills have become popular and lead to several overdoses and deaths throughout the country.

The first drug take-back hosted by O’Fallon in January 2009 collected over 20,000 pills according to Kendall.

“We had the first one in the county and for being the first, we had great success,” he said.

Residents can drop off their drugs in the parking lot of the police department at 100 North Main Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Kendall said it is preferred that the medicine be in the prescribed bottles. He said illegal drugs should not be taken to the collection. Those drugs can be taken to directly to the police department at anytime.

Participants can drop off medications anonymously and are not required to provide their name or address.

Kendall said all of the drugs will be sealed, weighed and handed over to the DEA for incineration. 

For more information, contact Kendall at 636-379-5688.