The 10th Annual National Drug Take Back will be held on Saturday, April 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The purpose of this event is to keep drugs out of the environment and off of our streets. Five of the locations will also include document shredders provided by the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance, Division of Consumer Affairs.
Local residents are encouraged to simply drive up and drop off their old medications – prescriptions or over-the-counter — for proper disposal at one of the 14 Hamilton County area locations. Sites in bold will have document shredders available for personal documents such as tax information or medical records:
Locations in Hamilton County:
Walgreens in Hixson – 5478 TN Highway 153
Walgreens in East Ridge – 5301 Ringgold Road
Walgreens in East Brainerd – 2289 Gunbarrel Road
Walgreens in Northshore – 110 North Market Street
Mt. Canaan Baptist Church – 4801 Hwy. 58
Elk’s Lodge #91 – 1069 Graysville Road
First Baptist Church – 506 East 8th Street
Food City in Red Bank – 3901 Dayton Boulevard
Orchard Knob Baptist Church – 1734 E. 3rd Street
Signal Mountain Police Department -1111 Ridgeway Avenue
Walgreens in Brainerd – 3605 Brainerd Road
Walgreens in Ooltewah – 9307 County Highway
Walgreens in Soddy Daisy – 121 Harrison Lane
Walgreens in St. Elmo – 3550 Broad Street
The program has positive community and environmental benefits. Having unused or expired medications in the home can lead to medication errors, accidental overdoses, or inappropriate use/abuse. In a well-intentioned effort to avoid these problems, many people flush unwanted medications down the toilet as a means of disposal. However, flushing medications means that traces of these drugs eventually end up back in the environment.
“Experience shows that the most effective and cost-efficient way to ensure high-quality water at the tap is to keep our source waters clean. We support this partnership because it helps spread an important message to the public: Don’t flush medications down the toilet, where they would eventually end up in our waterways,” said Kitty Vaughn, Tennessee American Water Supervisor of Water Quality and Environmental Compliance.
The local Drug Take Back program offers citizens a chance to safely and conveniently dispose of unwanted, unused prescription or over-the-counter drugs (for both pets and people) and avoid misuse or unintentional harm to families, pets and the environment.
“Properly disposing of medication reduces the chance of teenage experimentation and overdose. We encourage residents to take advantage of the drug take back day by simply driving to one of the locations and dropping off medication with no questions asked,” said Camilla Bibbs, Executive Director of the Hamilton County Coalition.
Along with Tennessee American Water, other sponsors for the Drug Take Back are: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, Count It! Lock It! Drop It!, City of Chattanooga Police Department, City of Chattanooga Youth & Family Development, CHI Memorial, Drug Enforcement Administration, East Ridge Police Department, Hamilton County Coalition, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Organization, Red Bank Police Department, Signal Mountain Police Department, Soddy Daisy Police Department, Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance’s Division of Consumer Affairs, Tennessee Department of Mental Health & Substance Abuse Services, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, UnitedHealthcare, Walgreens.
