Tulsa Dumps Old Prescriptions In Drug Take-Back Day

Just days after President Donald Trump declared the opioid epidemic a national health emergency, Tulsans are turning in their old pills.

More than 600 pounds of drugs will soon be burned, after being collected during National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Tulsans sure are taking advantage of the prescription drug take-back event.

Some are only dropping off a few bottles, but others are cleaning out their medicine cabinets. 

"[It’s] a lot to go through," said Tulsa resident Shelly Seabolt. 

Seabolt is getting rid of years’ worth of medicine; prescription and non-prescription. 

"I was really embarrassed that I had all that in the closet," she said. 

Turning them in, the city says, is safer than sitting around the house, or flushing the drugs away. 

John Beasley, City of Tulsa 
"Our water treatment plants can't process out chemicals like medications, so we're basically dumping them into the river if people flush the medications," said John Beasley with the City of Tulsa.

The city says prescription drug overdoses kill more Tulsans ages 25-64 than cars do.

And a recent study shows that about 16% of kids and teens in Tulsa County are getting drugs from home.  

"I have grand babies. And so we try to keep them up and away from them. And it was getting difficult to put them up high enough so that we didn't have to worry about them," Seabolt. 

Shelly and others who are stopping by are glad to know the drugs will be burned and gone for good. 

"I really feel relieved to get all of that out of the house and make it a little safer," she said. 

You don't have to wait for an event like this one to drop off your old prescriptions. 

You can stop by the police department or the sheriff's office any day of the year.