DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

AUSAs and staff participated in the DEA’s 14th Prescription Take-Back Day – an opportunity to turn in unused or expired prescription medications for safe disposal. Law enforcement agencies and businesses around the district got involved at collection sites throughout the region.    

This event collected a record number of unused and potentially dangerous prescription drugs. In total, with the help of over 4,200 local and tribal law enforcement partners, a record-setting 912,305 pounds – that translates to 456 TONS of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs were collected from over 5,300 collection sites around the nation.

According to the DEA, the initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Helping people to dispose of potentially harmful prescription drugs is just one way the USAO and the DEA are working to reduce the addiction and overdose deaths plaguing this country due to opioid medications.