More than 12 tons of unwanted prescription drugs and more were turned in by Arkansans to be disposed of Saturday as part of the 15th Arkansas Drug Take Back Day, the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership announced Wednesday.
In all, 25,405 pounds (12.7 tons) of drugs were collected from more than 275 take-back boxes located around the state.
Those drugs were then transported by truck to Huntsville, Ala., to be incinerated at a facility owned by a contractor named Reworld, said a spokesperson for the Arkansas National Guard, which helped in the operation.
Kirk Lane, director of the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, said about a third of what was collected on Saturday consisted of "the stuff that really needs to be destroyed," like opioids and "other dangerous pharmaceuticals."
Another third consisted of "other chemicals that are out there," while the last third is composed of "vitamins and stuff that people don't want," Lane said. "We try to keep it less restrictive, so people will feel free [to take part]. The more you restrict them, the less they're going to want to be involved with it."
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, opioids such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and morphine are the most misused prescription pain medications.
The highest concentration of returned drugs on Saturday came from central Little Rock.
"I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who participated in National Drug Take Back Day," said Tom Fisher, Arkansas State Drug Director. "The support we've witnessed is a testament to the lengths our communities will go to combat the opioid crisis and promote public health and safety."
Lane said that the 25,000 pounds that was collected is slightly down from what the take-back program has averaged in the spring over the last five years, which was around 27,000 pounds.
Lane said it was "hard to tell" whether to view the drop as a positive or negative.
"It could be down because there's less out there that needs to be destroyed or could be down because people are not getting involved," Lane said. "It makes us work harder to get the communication [out] because I think that numbers really is just data that tells us how good we're getting the information out there."
Since Arkansas Take Back was launched in 2010, the program has safely destroyed 606,155 pounds of unwanted medications.
Last October marked the 25th National Drug Take Back Day and saw 4,383 law enforcement agencies take part, including 173 in Arkansas.
The October drive in Arkansas brought in a little less than last weekend's total, at 23,678 pounds.
The numbers are in stark contrast to the first Drug Take Back operation in Arkansas 14 years ago, when only a few law enforcement agencies participated and 4,000 pounds were collected.
Lane said momentum "really started to take off" around 2014.
"I think it was the fact that we were pushing it out there and getting agencies to get on board," said Lane, who added that the take-back program is an educational program first. "People started realizing the information about the opioid epidemic and started paying attention to it."
Drug Enforcement Administration data from last year showed that through 25 of the drug take-back days, Arkansas collected 571,134 pounds -- or 285 tons -- of drugs, which included materials other than prescriptions drugs.
According to the Arkansas Take Back website, Arkansas ranks in the top 10 among states in total weight of drugs collected in that time.
The DEA data also indicated that in the South, after 25 drug take-back days, Arkansas trailed only Texas (1.3 million) and Florida (615,574 pounds) in total weight collected.
Of the state's position in the country when it comes to drug collection, Lane said it meant Arkansas had "a great robust take-back program that people take advantage of and they see the value in that so they're involved in it.
"But it also tells the other side [of it], that we'd have a tremendous [amount of] prescribing and a lot of times dependent communities. And our prescribing rates haven't really dropped. It dropped a little bit, but we're still twice the national average in opioids."
This year marks the second full calendar year that the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership has been in operation with Lane, the state's former drug director, at the helm.
Started in late 2022, Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership is an alliance between the Association of Arkansas Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League.
The partnership was tasked with distributing funds the state receives from an initial $216 million opioid settlement allocation.
To date, Lane said it has pushed out about $23 million throughout the state and there's at least one funded program in all 75 counties. Pulaski County has 13 programs.
"We're starting to do our one-year evaluations on some programs and we're seeing some good results," Lane said. "We're looking at overdose response. Number of arrests are few, but number of people going through recovery and treatment are usually [200] or 300 people per site that we have.
"In our treatment houses, we're seeing a lot of people that are graduating those treatment houses, all with jobs, and they came in without it. ... When more than 90% of the people that are graduating these residential treatment programs or transitional houses are being gainfully employed, that's a good thing."