Marshall County Sheriff Matthew Hassel announced Tuesday that the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department will be participating in the DEA National Drug Take-Back on Saturday, April 30, from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm.  Citizens will be able to drop off their expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs to the Marshall County Sheriff Officers in the parking lot of Walgreens Drug Store at 2014 North Michigan Street in Plymouth.

Drug abuse cost the U.S. more than $740 billion every year in costs related to crime, lost work productivity, and health care according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2020. Some experts think that more people are abusing prescription medications because there are more drugs available. Doctors report writing more prescriptions than ever before. Also, it’s easy to find online pharmacies selling these drugs. Teens may take medication from their parent’s medicine cabinets for themselves or their friends to use. Most young people have no idea what medications they’re taking, and which ones may cause serious problems — even death — if used with other drugs or alcohol.  They might also believe that the medicines are safe because they’re prescription.

A survey indicates that there were more Americans abusing psychotherapeutics than the number of cocaine, heroin, and hallucinogen abusers combined. Expired, unused or unwanted medications in our homes are a potential source of supply to the drug abusers making it a risk to public health and safety. Please take a few moments to clean out your medicine cabinets and bring them to the Walgreens Drug Store on Saturday, April 30 between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.