According to a 2017 national survey on drug use, 6 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs that year.

Put in the wrong hands, many prescription pills can cause life-altering — and even deadly — results. Due to the steady rise in prescription pill addiction and abuse, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration has deployed pill collection containers all over the country, and hosts two events each year to encourage prescription drug disposal.

Silver Creek Township was the most recent of many municipalities to install collection boxes where officials can collect unused prescription pills. Cass County has done a tremendous job of getting in front of these efforts, publicizing them and ultimately saving lives.

With an epidemic of illegal drug use and addiction to pain and anxiety medicine on the rise, and more and more people joining Cass County’s drug treatment court each week, we know how essential it is for people to remove these harmful substances from their homes.

As the DEA explains, removing unused or expired prescription pills also removes the ability for these pills to be misused, lost or stolen.

The more people who remove this temptation from their homes, ideally, the fewer people will get their hands on prescription drugs. In theory, if fewer people who get their hands on prescription drugs, fewer people will become addicted to prescription drugs.

Because prescription pill addiction often leads to other addictions to drugs like heroin and meth, it stands to reason that removing prescription drugs will also lessen the amount of addictions to these harder drugs. 

In other words, these takebacks are an essential way to break the constant cycle of drug addiction in our communities. We appreciate county and local leaders for participating in this effort, and encourage all who are able to donate their unused and expired pills this Saturday.

For a full list of drop-off locations, visit takebackday.dea.gov

Opinions expressed are those of general manager Ambrosia Neldon, managing editor Sarah Culton and sports editor Scott Novak.