Attorney General Josh Shapiro: 200 Tons Of Drugs Destroyed Through Take Back Program

By: KDKA-TV News Staff

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office says it has collected and destroyed 200 tons of drugs since 2017 through the take back program.

That's 400,000 pounds, or 23 times the weight limit on the Liberty Bridge.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro says more than 5,700 Pennsylvanians lost their lives to opioids last year alone.

"Because of the isolation, because of the challenges of COVID, those numbers are sadly rising. Six-hundred-eighty-nine of those deaths came from Allegheny County alone," he said.

Shapiro says on a daily average, police have arrested four and a half drug dealers a day.

He says they are also holding pharmaceutical companies accountable and making treatments more readily available.