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Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Saturday

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Prescription drug abuse has become the leading cause of accidental death in San Diego County, surpassing motor vehicle crashes and deaths from illicit drugs.

According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office 2011 report, prescription drugs contributed to 267 unintentional deaths in the county in 2011 out of a total of 479 from all drugs/poisons. A total of 242 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2011.

More must be done to raise awareness about the dangers associated with increased dependence on prescription drugs, says Aaron Byzak, president of the North Coastal Prevention Coalition.

The first step is to reduce access, and toward that effort the 5th Annual National Prescription Drug Take Back

Initiative on Saturday, Sept. 29, will allow people across the county to safely and anonymously remove old, unused, or expired medications from their homes by dropping them off at any one of 37 at locations throughout the county.

In Ramona, the dropoff sponsored by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department will be in the Albertsons parking lot at 1459 Main St. from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. No questions asked, drop off unused prescription drugs.

For a complete list of dropoff locations in the county, see sdsheriff.net.

The prescription drug abuse hotline is 877-662-6384.

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