Lorain County collects 4,000 pounds of medications on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Lorain County law enforcement, first responders and hospitals collected more than 4,000 pounds of unused, unwanted or expired prescription drugs during Saturday's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The 249 boxes containing 4,005.8 pounds of medications will be carted away by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Lorain County sheriff's majors Don Barker and Rich Bosley said. The drugs were collected during a four-hour period at multiple locations late morning and early afternoon on Saturday, no questions asked. During a previous Drug Take Back Day in April, more than 3,200 pounds of medications were collected, giving Lorain County a total of more than 7,200 pounds, or 3.6 tons, for the year. The collection program keeps the drugs, including prescription narcotics that can be abused, off the streets and stops them from being sold illegally or causing accidental overdoses. It also protects the environment by keeping them from being flushed down the toilet or thrown out in the trash. Vitamins, pills and pet medications were accepted. Illicit or "street" drugs, needles, inhalers, liquids, lotions, aerosols, ointments and creams were not. The Amherst, Avon, Avon Lake, Elyria, Grafton, Kipton, LaGrange, Lorain, North Ridgeville, Oberlin, Sheffield, Sheffield Lake, Vermilion and Wellington police departments, Lorain County Sheriff's Office, Columbia Township Fire Department, South Lorain County Ambulance and UH Elyria Medical Center participated this year. University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic partnered with law enforcement at 29 drop-off locations across Northeast Ohio this year, the hospital systems said. All UH locations, including UH Elyria Medical Center, offered free naloxone anti-overdose kits, fentanyl test strips and information that could help prevent overdoses. Many local police and fire departments have year-round drop-off boxes for unused, unwanted and expired prescription medications, as does Mercy Health outside its emergency department at Oberlin's Allen Hospital and in the surgical waiting room at its Lorain hospital. UH has a permanent collection site at Elyria's Gates Medical Building at 125 E. Broad St., and the pharmacy at Cleveland Clinic Avon Hospital also offers year-round collection. More than 4 tons of medication was collected during the take-back days in 2022.