Tulsa Takes Part In National Drug Take Back Day

News On 6 represented as one of the four drop off sites Saturday for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in Tulsa.

Some came with just a few bottles, or a bag, and some came with big boxes of old medicine.

Many people said they hadn't realized how much unneeded medicine they had, until they started looking.

Stacie Morris found a box, while getting ready for a garage sale.

"It was full of little vials of albuterol, for breathing treatments for my son," Morris said.

All of that unused medication will be carefully handled and destroyed. For some, that relieves the worry of having it around.

Brian and Nancy Leonard dropped off medication so it wouldn't fall into the wrong hands.

"There's some opioids, that we don't even use, and we didn't want it around the house anymore."

While cleaning up, and securing the medication was a common theme, so were the stories of loss.

Christi Henderson's mother died six years ago, and they've had her old medicine ever since.

"She had cancer, and it was all those cancer fighting pills, some pretty strong medication and we didn't want it to get in the wrong hands" they said.

When a loved one dies, they often leave behind medication, and sometimes lots of it. Iva Magnuson dropped off her husband’s medication. He died 11 days ago.

"He'd been sick for a while, but he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer on the 10th. He died on the 15^th," Magnuson said.

Car after car pulled into the News On 6 station with people telling similar stories - stories of loss - and worry that unsecured medication could bring grief to another family.

"My husband is in a rehab center and he won't be coming out," Linda Fowlkes said.

She said she was cleaning out the cabinets and wanted to make sure the medication ended up where it should.

Ninety people dropped off medication at the News On 6 drop off site Saturday.