Around 39,000 pounds of prescription pills were collected last week by Indiana State Police. People brought them in voluntarily for the “Prescription Drug Take Back Day”, now in its 19th year. Thirty-nine thousand pills may represent many lives saved.

“We were very open with our kids and talked about the topics that everybody thinks they should be talking to their kids about. However, we did not talk to our kids about misuse and abuse of prescription drugs,” said Becky Savage of Granger.

She regretted that the night she lost both of her sons to prescription pill overdoses.Nick was 19 and Jack was 18, when they died after a party on June 14, 2015.

“Nick and Jack were wonderful people, smart kids who had goals, and they made a bad choice at a graduation party,” said Savage in an interview in 2018. She now heads the 525 Foundation, to bring awareness to the dangers of leftover pills.

“There’s a lot of prescription medicines that are no longer in use or expired, still sitting in peoples’ cabinets,” she said. While Savage and family try to sponsor a drug take back about once a month, the Prescription Drug Take Back Day is an annual event.

“Prescription Drug Take Back Day is the perfect opportunity for Hoosiers to clean out their medicine cabinets and safely dispose of any unused medication,” said Indiana Executive Director for Drug Prevention, Treatment and Enforcement Douglas Huntsinger. “No matter if it’s one prescription or 10, each prescription we properly dispose of makes Indiana’s communities safer places for all.”