National Prescription Take Back Day: October 26, 2024

Kacey Flores, PA-C, Physician Assistant, Coastal Gateway Health Center

Did you know that unwanted prescription drugs should never be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet? All too often, prescription drugs find their way into the wrong hands, creating a dangerous and often tragic situation. According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the majority of people who use a prescription medication for a nonmedical purpose obtain that medication from a family member or friend. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, 107,735 American lives were lost to drug poisoning between August 2021 and August 2022.

Moreover, drugs flushed down the toilets contaminate the water supply.  In 2010, the United States recognized the drug overdose epidemic and decided to do something about reducing medication misuse and opioid addiction through proper disposal of unused, unwanted, or expired medication.

The Drug Enforcement Administration now has “National Prescription Take Back Day” on the last Saturday of April and October annually. DEA sponsors specific collection sites nationwide where medications can be dropped off for proper disposal.  

To prepare for Take Back Day:

1. Locate all medications in your household or your loved one’s household and ensure that they’re securely stored, with lids tightly on bottles, out of reach of children and pets.
2. Inventory the medications and identify unused, unwanted, or expired.
3. Label each of these medications, indicating they are for disposal.
4. Take them to a collection site at the proper time.

To find a list of one of the 4,000 local drop-off locations nationwide, visit https://www.dea.gov/takebackday.

DEA and its partners will collect prescription drugs in tablets, capsules, suspensions, and patches. Collection sites will not accept syringes, sharps, or illicit drugs. Liquid products like cough syrup should remain tightly sealed in their original container. The event will also accept vaping devices and cartridges, provided lithium batteries are removed.

If you missed the designated take-back day, you can take unwanted prescription drugs year-round at several places, including close to 15,000 pharmacies, hospitals, and businesses. In addition, many police departments provide year-round drop boxes.

Working together, we can end non-medical prescription misuse.

Coastal Gateway Health Center can be reached by phone at 409.296.4444 or by email at [email protected]. For more information regarding our services and programs, please visit our website at www.coastalgatewayhc.org or find and follow us on Facebook. We are proud to be #yourcommunityhealthcenter.