On Saturday, April 27, 2013 the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is sponsoring the sixth nationwide “Prescription Drug Take Back” initiative. The “Take Back” initiative seeks to prevent prescription drug abuse and theft. Collection sites will be set up nationwide for expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs to be disposed of for destruction. This service is free and anonymous with no questions asked. The only restriction is we will not accept new or used needles. This program is intended for liquid and pill medications. 

The Drug Take Back events have proven to be a popular and safe method for the public to legally and safely dispose of prescription drugs that are no longer needed or have expired. Citizens wishing to participate in this program may drop off their prescription drugs for disposal at any Indiana State Police Post throughout the state (except the Toll Road) which includes both the Evansville and Jasper Posts on Saturday, April 27, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. (In Dubois County there will be two additional sites one at the Haysville Fire Station and one at the St. Henry Fire Station; these two sites will be open from 10 a.m. to noon). 

To locate the state police post closest to your home or business, click this link: http://www.in.gov/isp/2382.htm

From a Drug Enforcement Administration News Release - November 27, 2012:
The Drug Enforcement Administration continues to warn the public about criminals posing as DEA special agents or other law enforcement personnel. This criminal activity continues to occur, despite significant public attention to the illicit scheme. DEA offices nationwide regularly receive telephone calls from concerned citizens who are the victims of this extortion effort.

The criminals call the victims (who in most cases previously purchased drugs over the internet or by telephone) and identify themselves as DEA agents or law enforcement officials from other agencies.  The impersonators inform their victims that purchasing drugs over the internet or by telephone is illegal, and that enforcement action will be taken against them unless they pay a fine.  In most cases, the impersonators instruct their victims to pay the "fine" via wire transfer to a designated location, usually overseas.  If victims refuse to send money, the impersonators often threaten to arrest them or search their property.  Some victims who purchased their drugs using a credit card also reported fraudulent use of their credit cards.

Impersonating a federal agent is a violation of federal law.  The public should be aware that no DEA agent will ever contact members of the public by telephone to demand money or any other form of payment.

The DEA reminds the public to use caution when purchasing controlled substance pharmaceuticals by telephone or through the internet.  It is illegal to purchase controlled substance pharmaceuticals online or by telephone unless very stringent requirements are met. All pharmacies that dispense controlled substance pharmaceuticals by means of the internet must be registered with DEA.  By ordering any pharmaceutical medications online or by telephone from unknown entities, members of the public risk receiving unsafe, counterfeit, and/or ineffective drugs from criminals who operate outside the law.  In addition, personal and financial information could be compromised.

Anyone receiving a telephone call from a person purporting to be a DEA special agent or other law enforcement official seeking money should refuse the demand and report the threat.

Report Extortion Scam: 1-877-792-2873

WASHINGTON, D.C. – For the fifth time in two years, Americans emptied medicine cabinets, bedside tables, and kitchen drawers of unwanted, unused, and expired prescription drugs and took them to collection sites located throughout the United States as part of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. 
 
Last Saturday, September 29, DEA’s state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners, working at  more than 5,263 locations, collected 488,395 pounds (244 tons) of prescription medications from members of the public.  When added to the collections from DEA’s previous four Take-Back events, more than 2 million pounds (1,018 tons) of prescription medications were removed from circulation. 
 
According to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs.  That same study revealed more than 70 percent of people abusing prescription pain relievers got them through friends or relatives, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet. 
 
The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposal, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of these medications.
 
The DEA’s Take-Back events are a significant piece of the White House’s prescription drug abuse prevention strategy released in 2011 by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.  Disposal of unwanted, unused or expired drugs is one of four strategies for reducing prescription drug abuse and diversion laid out in Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis.  The other strategies include education of health care providers, patients, parents and youth; enhancing and encouraging the establishment of prescription drug monitoring programs in all the states; and increased enforcement to address doctor shopping and pill mills.

Shortly after DEA’s first Take-Back Day event two years ago, Congress passed, and President Obama signed, the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amended the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), allowing DEA to develop permanent, ongoing, and responsible methods for disposal.  Prior to the passage of the Disposal Act, the CSA provided no legal means for transferring possession of controlled substance medications from users to other individuals for disposal. DEA is currently in the process of drafting regulations, but until the creation of permanent regulations, DEA will continue to hold Take-Back Days.


SOURCE: DEA News Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With public participation at an all-time high after four prior events in two years, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its national, tribal, and community partners will hold a fifth National Prescription Drug Take Back Day at thousands of sites across America on Saturday the 29th.  These Take Back Days give the public the opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs.  Collection sites are open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
 
Americans participating in DEA’s four previous Take-Back Days turned in nearly 1.6 million pounds—almost 774 tons—of prescription drugs, most recently at almost 5,700 sites operated by nearly 4,300 of the DEA’s s local law enforcement partners. DEA’s  last event collected more than double the pills as their first one two years ago, with almost 50% more participating agencies and sites this past April than in September of 2010.

“The growing response to DEA’s national Take Back Day events demonstrates that the public understands, and wants to help combat, the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in America.  They recognize the need to rid their homes of dangerous controlled substance medications that teens and others steal, abuse, and sell,” said DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart.  “DEA will continue holding these national Take Back Day events as long as they are needed to prevent diversion, addiction, and overdose deaths.”

Medicines that languish in home cabinets create a public health and safety concern because they are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.  Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high--more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. 
 
The public can find a nearby collection site by visiting www.dea.gov, clicking on the “Got Drugs?” icon, and following the links to a database where they enter their zip code. 
 
Four days after DEA’s first Take Back event two years ago, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.  DEA is in the process of drafting regulations to implement the Act.


SOURCE: www.dea.gov

FROM THE EVANSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT FACEBOOK PAGE:
Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann has teamed up with Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and local law enforcement agenices to fight the sale and use of synthetic drugs. This fight is being taken to all communites across Indiana. Retailers will be receiving notices that, "Continued sale of synthetic drugs could cost them their business."  These synthetic drugs have no legitimate use and the effects of these drugs is unpredictable and dangerous. There have been several instances in the Evansville area where these drugs have created a dangerous situation for the user, their families, and the police. Prosecutor Hermann has said that all available remedies will be used to halt the sale of these products. 

WASHINGTON –  More than 90 individuals were arrested and more than five million packets of finished designer synthetic drugs were seized in the first-ever nationwide law enforcement action against the synthetic designer drug industry responsible for the production and sale of synthetic drugs that are often marketed as bath salts, Spice, incense, or plant food.More than $36 million in cash was also seized.   

As of today, more than 4.8 million packets of synthetic cannabinoids (ex. K2, Spice) and the products to produce nearly 13.6 million more, as well as 167,000 packets of synthetic cathinones (ex. bath salts), and the products to produce an additional 392,000 were seized.   

Operation Log Jam was conducted jointly by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service,U.S. Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, as well as countless state and local law enforcement members in more than 109 U.S. cities and targetedevery level of the synthetic designer drug industry, including retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers.  
“Although tremendous progress has been made in legislating and scheduling these dangerous substances, this enforcement action has disrupted the entire illegal industry, from manufacturers to retailers,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart. “Together with our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, we are committed to targeting these new and emerging drugs with every scientific, legislative, and investigative tool at our disposal.”

“Today, we struck a huge blow to the synthetic drug industry.The criminal organizations behind the importation, distribution and selling of these synthetic drugs have scant regard for human life in their reckless pursuit of illicit profits,” said Acting Director of ICE’s Office of Homeland Security Investigations James Chaparro. “ICE is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to bring this industry to its knees.”

"The synthetic drug industry is an emerging area where we can leverage our financial investigative expertise to trace the path of illicit drug proceeds by identifying the financial linkages among the various co-conspirators,” said Richard Weber, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation.  "We will continue working with our law enforcement partners to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the highest level drug trafficking and drug money laundering organizations that pose the greatest threat to Americans and American interests."

“The U.S. Postal Inspection Service aggressively investigates the use of the U.S. Mail system for the distribution of illegal controlled substances and its proceeds. Our agency uses a multi-tiered approach to these crimes: protection against the use of the mail for illegal purposes and enforcement of laws against drug trafficking and money laundering. This includes collaboration with other agencies,” said Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

“The mission of U.S. Customs and Border Protection is to guard our country’s borders from people and goods that could harm our way of life,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Acting Commissioner David V. Aguilar.  “We are proud to be part of an operation that disrupts the flow of synthetic drugs into the country and out of the hands of the American people.”

Over the past several years, there has been a growing use of, and interest in, synthetic cathinones (stimulants/hallucinogens) sold under the guise of “bath salts” or “plant food.” Marketed under names such as “Ivory Wave,” “Purple Wave,” “Vanilla Sky,” or “Bliss,” these products are comprised of a class of dangerous substances perceived to mimic cocaine, LSD, MDMA, and/or methamphetamine. Users have reported impaired perception, reduced motor control, disorientation, extreme paranoia, and violent episodes. The long-term physical and psychological effects of use are unknown but potentially severe.