On Saturday, October 29, 2011, DREAM took part in the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) sponsored National Take Back Initiative.  The Take Back Initiative is a way for community members to take part in preventing prescription and over-the-counter drug misuse and abuse by properly disposing of their unused, expired, and/or unneeded medications. 

DREAM teamed up with the Flowood Police Department and the Kroger in Flowood, MS for the event and collected approximately forty-seven pounds of both prescription and over-the-counter drugs. 

Special thanks to the Flowood Police Department and to our neighborhood Kroger in Flowood for helping make the event possible.  DREAM plans to participate in the event again in April.  Future plans will be posted.  In the meantime, here are a few safe ways to properly dispose of those meds:

1. Remove any identifying information from bottle labels.  This will prevent someone from stealing your identifying information from the trash cans. For those really tricky stuck on labels, try soaking the bottles in really hot water and then scraping them off with a butter knife or try a cleaning product such as Goo Gone.

2. Mix unwanted meds with undesirable substances such as used kitty litter or coffee grounds and then throw them in the trash can. This helps prevent someone from stealing the meds from your trash.

3. Do not flush meds down the toilet! Doing so allows the meds to enter into our water system, making it unsafe to drink. However, there are a few medications that the federal government advises flushing down the toilet. Those are listed here.

4. Participate in a program that disposes of the meds properly, such as the Take Back events.

For more information regarding prescription drug misuse and abuse, please contact DREAM, Inc at 601.933.9199 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .