The Russell County Sheriff’s Office in partnership with Russell County Partner’s in Prevention and under guidance of the London office of the DEA hosted a drug take back last weekend, netting nearly 40 pounds of outdated or unneeded prescription drugs in the county.

“We really appreciate the turnout we had even though it rained the entire day,” said RC Sheriff Deputy Clete McAninch. “People still showed up bringing narcotics in and dropping them off, from expired drugs to drugs from people who’ve lost family members.”

“They still showed up despite the rain, dropped it off and getting rid of it instead of letting it get out on the street.”

Lauren Hayes with the RC Partner’s in Prevention was satisfied with the result of the drug take-back.

“We want to thank all of our community members for participating and keeping those prescription drugs out of the hands of our youth,” said Hayes.

“They have estimated that one in four teens are using prescription drugs every day and 2,500 teens are using prescription drugs for the first time to get high,” Hayes said.

“So the more prescription drugs we can keep off the streets the less they’re going to affect our kids and our youth. So we’re very appreciative of the community for backing us and being a part of it.”

Hayes explained that the drug take-back is the safest way to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs to keep them from affecting the environment; rather than flushing them down the toilet or simply throwing them in the garbage, both disposal methods shown to contaminate water and soil supplies, according to information provided by Hayes.

“You’re not supposed to throw away prescription drugs or flush them down the toilet,” said Hayes.

“That’s the old fashioned methods we used to have and they’ve actually discovered that by doing that you actually contaminate the water sources, so if you grow a garden or drink your tap water it’s contaminated.

“The collected drugs are taken to an incinerator that purifies everything. It does not go back into the environment. It’s all EPA (Environmental Protection Agency regulated so it’s an easy, wonderful way to get rid of your drugs,” Hayes said.