Saturday, October 26th has been designated as National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. From 10am-2pm, you can drop off unused prescription drugs to a local agency that will safely dispose of them. You can use this link to find a location near you that is accepting unused prescription drugs. Drugs dropped off are received by law enforcement with no questions asked.
This event is held every six months all across America, in a joint effort with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Department of Justice. The aim of these events is to provide a safe and convenient means of disposing of prescription drugs.
The last event, held in April 2019 included nearly 5,000 law enforcement agencies, more than 6,200 drop off sites and collected 469 TONS of prescription drugs. Illinois collected almost 36,000 pounds on their own. Texas saw the highest collection rates, with over 92,000 pounds of prescription drugs collected.
The collection on October 26th will be the 18th installment of this event. To date, more than 11 million pounds of prescription drugs have been collected.
The other aim of this event is to provide a responsible method for people to dispose of unused prescription drugs. Medications dropped off during these “Drug Take Back Days” are incinerated, which is a safer way than putting them down the sink or toilet, and much safer than simply throwing them in the garbage.
Most water treatment facilities are not sophisticated enough to filter out drugs that may have entered the water supply. If you flush unused pills down the toilet and run them down the sink, there is a risk of them ending up in someone’s drinking water.
More than 17 million Americans struggle with the misuse of prescription drugs. By throwing your unused prescription pills into the garbage, you leave those drugs available for anyone to find and use. Just because pills are expired doesn’t mean they cannot harm someone who finds them and decides to take them.
The sad truth is that 192 overdose deaths occur each day in American, and of those 130 are caused by opioids. Most people who become addicted to opioids first encounter them in the form of prescription pain relievers.
If you are unable to participate in the October 26th event, talk with your local pharmacy about safe disposal methods they have available. Many pharmacies like CVS, Walgreens and others have pharmacy drop-off boxes where you can leave your unused medications for proper disposal.
