HERSHEY, Pa. — Attendees at a drive-through prescription drug take-back event at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center turned over 449 pounds of unwanted medication. They also brought hundreds of needles and syringes — enough to fill 15 large red biohazard containers — to the April 28 event.
The totals reflect the highest amounts of those items that have ever been collected at a Hershey Medical Center take-back event.
The event provided for the safe and convenient disposal of unwanted, unneeded or expired medications, needles and syringes. It was one of several coordinated nationwide by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
It is important to properly dispose of medication, needles and syringes for several reasons:
- Expired medications have passed their half-life and can become ineffective. The chemical composition of the drugs can change over time, and they could become potentially harmful or less potent.
- Children can find the medications, needles or syringes and accidently harm themselves.
- It eliminates the temptation to self-medicate using someone else’s prescriptions.
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