Last weekend’s nationwide Prescription Drug Take Back initiative was an unqualified success in Harford County. At the two local locations in Bel Air and Havre de Grace, more than 300 people turned in more than 700 pounds of expired or unused medicines for safe disposal.

A county government spokesman said local officials were told by the Drug Enforcement Administration that more people participated in Harford than in any other jurisdiction in Maryland. The DEA organized the nationwide initiative, which was supported locally by the county and its Office of Drug Control Policy, the sheriff’s office and the health department.

The take-back initiative is a reminder that despite all the publicity about street drugs like crack, meth, speed, heroin and marijuana, a considerable amount of drug abuse and overdosing involves legally prescribed medications and some medications that can be purchased over the counter without a prescription. Often that abuse occurs when the medications in question are no longer being taken but are left around the house where they can fall into the wrong hands, frequently young hands.

To the local agencies who were involved in planning for and carrying out Prescription Drug Take Back in Harford County, we’d like to offer sincere thanks for a job obviously very well done.

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