Sonoma County police departments participate in National Drug Take Back Day to address abuse of prescription drugs

Thousands of law enforcement agencies across the nation, including two in Sonoma County, are set to participate in the 17th annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday to address the misuse of prescription drugs.

The Rohnert Park Public Safety and Cloverdale Police departments from ?10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will have a drop-off station for people to dispose of unwanted prescription medication.

“This is a free service with no questions asked and no names taken,” Rohnert Park Sgt. Jeff Justice said. “This is an opportunity to remove medications from homes or anywhere else where someone can get a hold of them and misuse them.”

Around 4,700 law enforcement agencies participated last year and over 900,000 pounds of prescription medications were collected, according to a DEA evaluation of the event.

In Sonoma County, ?44 people die annually from an accidental overdose and there are almost 500 emergency department visits related to opioid overdoses each year, according to estimates by the Sonoma County Department of Health and Human Services.

The threat of opioids and addiction is not a health crisis limited to other parts of the country, Justice said.

“This event helps our community as far as getting these medications to a place where they are not going to be abused by kids,” he said.

A national survey on drug use and health concluded that in 2017 about 6 million Americans misused prescription drugs.

At the local level, most law enforcement departments in the county have equipped officers with an opioid overdose-blocking medicine known as naloxone, or Narcan, to be used when responding to an overdose call.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that its officers were also going to start carrying the antidote.

Outside of the one-day event, a handful of pharmacies and other police departments in the county operate drop-off locations year-round. The Petaluma, Healdsburg, Sonoma, Sebastopol and Windsor police departments have disposal sites during normal work hours. A drop box at Santa Rosa Police Department is available 24 hours.

“This is a nationwide problem as far as abuse and addiction of prescription medications, which is why we wanted to take part in this,” Justice said.