Maui Participates in Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative

Wailuku Maui Police Station.  Photo courtesy Maui County.

By Wendy Osher

The Maui Police Department hosts a prescription drug drop off event this weekend as part of the 6th Annual National Take Back Initiative.

The event runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 27, at the Maui Police Department parking lot in Wailuku.

The public is encouraged to bring in expired or unused prescription medications to the collection site for proper disposal.

This service is free and anonymous, and is being held in partnership between the state Attorney General’s office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the state Narcotics Enforcement Division.

The collection site will be accepting tablets, capsules, and all other solid dosage forms of medication.

Since September 2010, event organizers say Hawaiʻi together with Guam and Northern Marianas Islands has collected more than 8,000 pounds of expired and unused prescription medications.

According to organizers, the event is designed to prevent the abuse of unused medications, and provides a way for the public to “freely dispose of medications in a safe and anonymous way.”

Proper disposal, authorities say, also helps to reduce the risk of prescription drugs entering a human water supply and potentially harming aquatic life.