Toby Talbot/AP
Hydrocodone-acetaminophen pills, also known as Vicodin, are arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt.
Friday, April 26, 2019 | 2 a.m.
To nip an upward trend in which prescription opioids took more than 17,000 American lives in a year, officials want citizens to get rid of unused and expired medication.
And they’re providing places where one can safely dispose of them — no questions asked.
Metro Police is participating in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s national Drug Take Back event on Saturday.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., residents can anonymously drop off unused and expired medications at the following Metro substations:
Enterprise Area Command: 6975 West Windmill Lane, near Rainbow Boulevard.
Northwest Area Command: 9850 W. Cheyenne Ave., west of Grand Canyon Drive.
Downtown Area Command: 621 N. Ninth St., near Las Vegas Boulevard North.
Southeast Area Command: 3675 E. Harmon Ave., west of Sandhill Road.
Drug overdoses killed more than 70,000 Americans in 2017, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Out of that figure, opioids took 47,600 lives — prescription pills killed 17,029.
The 2017 numbers — the latest recorded in the federal data — were a continuation of an alarming trend that has prompted federal officials to brand the issue an epidemic.
For example, only 3,442 Americans died from prescription opioids in 1999, although population growth isn’t taken into consideration.
“Year after year,” Metro said in a news release, “the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet.”
Furthermore, flushing pills down the toilet can harm the water supply, and tossing them in the trash can cause other harm, Metro said.
Since the Take Back event launched in 2010, the DEA and its partners have disposed of more than 10 million pounds of pills, Metro said.
