By Mary O’KEEFE

Community members had the chance to clean out their medicine cabinets of old prescription drugs and drop them off at several locations on Saturday.

The Drug Take Back event was sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration and assisted by the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition.

“The CVDAPC assisted in organizing, advertising and staffing the event. Further, we worked in cooperation with other civic groups such as the Glendale Elks Lodge, Neighborhood Watch members, and law enforcement agencies [D.E.A, Glendale Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department Foothill Division, LASD CV Sheriff’s Station and Glendale College Police],” said Glendale Officer Joe Allen, event organizer.

Four locations were made available for drop off throughout Crescenta Valley including the Tujunga area. Susan Dubin, CVDAPC member and co-chair of the event, traveled to all local locations on Saturday.

“Despite the heat, we had an outstanding turnout,” Dubin said. “We captured a few quick questions regarding people’s perception of harm for abuse of prescription drugs in the area and made sure to raise awareness on the 24/7 Sheriff drop off bins.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at Crescenta Valley Station at 4554 Briggs Ave. has three permanent receptacles at the entrance to the station. The receptacles accept prescription drugs in addition to marijuana and hypodermic needles. Drop offs are made anonymously – no one is required to fill out any forms, just drop off the items.

CVDAPC has partnered with LASD to get the word out to the community about the receptacles by providing local pharmacies with handouts of the locations for their customers, Dubin said.

The community cooperation and response was successful. In Tujunga, La Crescenta and La Cañada alone approximately 180 pounds of prescription drugs were dropped off. In all the areas, including Glendale, about 580 pounds were collected.         “It was the largest amount we have collected for an event,” Allen said.

  Mary Okeefe