LITTLE ROCK — Arkansans disposed of more than 5 tons of unwanted or expired medications during the fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Tuesday.
Locally, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office collected 126 pounds of medications, said JCSO spokesman Major Lafayette Woods Jr. Woods said the amount was double what the agency took in at a similar event last year.
The Pine Bluff Police Department also held a drug take-back event, during which they collected 17.6 pounds of medications.
During the event Saturday, law enforcement agencies in the state collected and destroyed 10,556 pounds of pills — an estimated 14.7 million pills, McDaniel said. It was the second most successful of the four Take-Back events in Arkansas, led only by an October 2011 event which brought in close to 6 tons of pills.
Other Take-Back events were held in September 2010 and April 2011.
The national Take-Back Initiative is sponsored by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Coordinating Arkansas’ participation were the Office of the Drug Director, the Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Arkansas National Guard, law enforcement agencies across the state and more than 30 other government agencies, community organizations and public health agencies.