National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Expired or unwanted prescription pills that are just sitting in your medicine cabinet can put family members and others at risk. That’s why, twice a year, communities across the Country host National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. By getting rid of unused medication, you can help reduce accidental overdoses and prescription drug abuse.

On Saturday, April 30^th an additional 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide will be open from 10 am until 2 pm, where you can anonymously dispose of old medications.

If you can’t make it this weekend, no problem, year-round receptacles are available at more than 13,000 locations, including; pharmacies, hospitals, police departments, and businesses. Plus, with the passage of the DUMP Opioids Act in 2021, people can use drop boxes at Veterans Administration medical centers to dispose of controlled substance prescription medications.

National Prescription take-back day is an opportunity to help keep communities healthy and reduce drug misuse by safely getting rid of old medications.

How to Safely Dispose of Your Old Medications

There are safe ways to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs, including at-home disposal and year-round collection sites. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recommends the following:

• The best way to dispose of most types of unused or expired medicines (both prescription and over the counter) is to drop off the medicine at a drug take-back site, location, or program
• Don’t flush your medicine unless it is on the FDA Flush List.
• If the medicine is not on the Flush List, follow these instructions to safely dispose of the medicine in your trash at home.

Tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs, as well as vaping devices and cartridges with the lithium batteries removed, are accepted at drop-off sites. However, liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illicit drugs are not accepted.

Drug Overdose Statistics

Drug overdoses have skyrocketed over the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, more than 106,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021, marking the most drug-related deaths ever recorded, with opioid-related deaths accounting for 75 percent of all overdose deaths.

According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, most people who misused a prescription medication obtained the medicine from a family member or friend.

Since it started in 2010, Take Back Day has collected more than 15.2 million pounds of medication.

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction and looking for drug detox or rehab near Los Angeles our Laguna Treatment Center can help kickstart your recovery.