More than 51,000 Pounds of Prescription Drugs Collected in April

Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Philadelphia Field Division announced that
51,461 pounds of prescription drugs were collected across Pennsylvania and Delaware during the DEA Philadelphia Field Division’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day event Saturday, April 30th.

This amount is more than double than what was collected during the DEA’s last Take-Back event in September 2015, when 23,222 pounds were collected across Pennsylvania and Delaware.

In the Pittsburgh area, where the DEA implemented its 360 Strategy in November 2015, 12,675 pounds were collected. This innovative strategy focuses on partnership with and education of community-based organizations, health care professionals, and law
enforcement partners about the link between prescription opioid abuse and heroin abuse - an epidemic that has had deadly consequences across the region.

Across Pennsylvania, a total of 43,778 pounds was collected, and in Delaware, a total of 7,684 pounds was collected.

Specifically in the Pittsburgh area, more than 12,500 pounds of prescription drugs were collected and properly destroyed. That topped totals in Allentown, Harrisburg and Scranton, but couldn’t touch Philadelphia’s total of 19,170 pounds.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.