DEA installs drug collection box in Louisville federal building
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Louisville Division today announced that a prescription drug collection box is now available in the lobby of the Mazzoli Federal Building, located at 600 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Place, in downtown Louisville. This is the first permanent prescription drug collection box in a federal building nationwide and it’s available to the public.
“Keeping prescription drugs out of the wrong hands makes our communities safer,” said DEA Louisville Division Special Agent in Charge Todd Scott. “This new collection box, and others like it, will help us build off the success of our National Prescription Drug Take Back Days.”
Anyone in the greater Louisville metropolitan area wishing to drop off their unneeded, unused, or expired medications can do so beginning today. Upon entering the federal building, security personnel will screen all materials to ensure the contents are not hazardous. Items that can be dropped off include prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, vaping devices with the batteries removed, and vaping cartridges. The following items are prohibited and cannot be collected: liquids, aerosols, needles, and any illicit drugs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 2017, more than 72,000 Americans died of a drug overdose death. Of those deaths, 49,068 involved the opioids. Medicine cabinets are one of the most common places where prescription drugs are obtained for possible abuse/misuse. Please join us in keeping our community safe by disposing of unwanted prescription drugs in your medicine cabinets.
