Crime & Safety

Ditch Outdated Drugs Saturday at Macungie PD

Macungie and Alburtis police will collect outdated and unwanted prescriptions medications on Saturday.

The sixth National Take Back Day drug collection will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at locations across Lehigh County including:

 

  • Alburtis Police Department, 260 Franklin St., Alburtis
  • Macungie Police Department, 21 Locust St., Macungie

You can dispose of capsules, pills, including pet medications, and liquids. Syringes or Sharps will not be accepted.

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Residents who dispose of medications will remain anonymous, as has been the case in the last five collections, and no questions will be asked.

The amount of unwanted and expired drugs collected during the past Take Back Day events has been staggering.  During the last five collection events in 2010, 2011 and 2012, a total of 3,269 pounds of drugs were collected in Lehigh County alone.

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The event helps keep drugs from getting into the hands of children who want to

experiment with them or end up in landfills or in the area’s water supply, said Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin.

DEA personnel take the drugs to an incinerator where they are burned.

Many people don't know that most of the commonly abused drugs by teenagers are prescription drugs, Martin said. They are usually in the family’s bathroom medicine cabinets, where they are forgotten. Because they are not being used by the people for whom they were prescribed, no one checks to see if one pill or 10 pills are missing, Martin said.

He noted that studies have shown that one in 10 teenagers has used Vicodin for nonmedical purposes. Other drugs that are misused and abused are Percocet, Oxycontin and codeine cough syrup, stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin and Dexedrine, and sedatives and tranquilizers like Valium, Xanax and Ambien.

Other Lehigh County collection locations include:

  • Emmaus Police Department, 400 Jubilee St., Emmaus
  • Center Court, South Mall, Salisbury Township
  • Giant supermarket, 3015 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown. Allentown police and the Allentown Health Bureau will collect medications
  • Walgreen’s Pharmacy, 1702 W. Tilghman St., Allentown. Allentown police and the Allentown Health Bureau will collect medications
  • Giant supermarket (at the store pharmacy), 216 E. Fairmont St., Coopersburg
  • Upper Saucon Township Police Department, 5500 Camp Meeting Road, Center Valley
  • Lower Milford Township Police Department, 7607 Chestnut Hill Church Road, Coopersburg
  • Fountain Hill Police Department, 941 Long St., Fountain Hill
  • South Whitehall Township Police Department, 4444 Walbert Ave., main entrance to the Police Department is at the back of the Municipal Building on the lower level
  • Target, 912 Airport Center Road, Airport Shopping Plaza, Hanover Township, Lehigh County. Pennsylvania State Police will collect medications
  • Westgate Mall, main entrance, 2285 Schoenersville Road, Bethlehem

The event is being coordinated by the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, area police departments, the Allentown Health Bureau, Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration.


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