DEA leads local agencies in collecting pills

Calling pharmaceuticals "the new gateway drug," the Drug Enforcement Administration is joining with local law-enforcement agencies to hold a "Take-Back" campaign in which citizens can drop off unused prescription drugs - no questions asked.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, some 3,400 sites nationwide - including dozens across the Chicago suburbs - will collect prescription drugs without inquiring into where they came from or how they were obtained. Citizens dropping the pills off and concerned about their privacy can remove the prescription label - or just put the pills in a plastic bag. They will then be destroyed in a safe manner.

The main reasons for the campaign are twofold: to remove the pills from the risk of abuse and to prevent contaminating the general water supply if they were just dumped down the drain or toilet.

"Prescription-drug abuse we've identified as a huge problem," said Will Taylor, the DEA's Chicago spokesman.

National DEA spokesman Rusty Payne labeled pharmaceuticals "the new gateway drug," especially for teenagers rifling through their parents' medicine cabinets. "I still don't believe people realize what's going on in high schools today," Payne added, saying in many instances pills like painkillers have replaced marijuana as a readily available introduction to inebriation.

And it's not just teens. A recent Daily Herald story told of a local man who nursed his addiction for years by stealing pills on visits to friends - and even when asking to use the bathroom at garage sales.

Meanwhile, a study two years ago found trace elements of pharmaceuticals in water supplies across the nation, with a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator calling it "a growing concern and we're taking it very seriously."

Citizens can find nearby drop-off locations for the "Take-Back" campaign by going to the dea.gov website, clicking on the prominent "Take-Back" search link and entering their ZIP code.

Drop-off locations include the Rolling Meadows and Skokie courthouses and even the Park Ridge farmers market, as well as many local police departments, including Algonquin, Arlington Heights, Aurora, Campton Hills, Crystal Lake, Des Plaines, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, Geneva, Harvard, Huntley, Johnsburg, Naperville, North Chicago, Plainfield, Prospect Heights, Rolling Meadows, Villa Park and Waukegan.