Federal Officials Announce National Prescription Take Back Day

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA – Residents of Louisiana have an opportunity to safely and anonymously rid their homes of unused, unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription medications, announced United States Attorney Brandon Fremin of the Middle District of Louisiana.

The National Prescription Take Back Day is Saturday, October 26, 2019, at four locations within the Middle District of Louisiana and almost 60 locations across Louisiana.  During this one-day event, federal and local law enforcement will, once again, partner together to increase awareness of prescription drug abuse and provide an opportunity to reduce the availability of prescription pain medications in local homes.

U.S. Attorney Brandon Fremin stated: “This program seeks to reduce the massive amount of prescription drugs available at the homes throughout our district.  The proper disposal of these drugs greatly benefits all citizens in our combined efforts to keep our communities safe.  Reducing this available supply is an important step in our fight against opioid abuse.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Brad Byerley stated:  “Prescription drugs often end up in the wrong hands, feeding an epidemic that kills more Americans than car accidents.  DEA’s Take Back Initiative provides citizens an easy and safe way to dispose of unused and unwanted prescription medications.  This year, we are taking it a step further by accepting vaping devices and cartridges as we work with our federal partners to combat this emerging public health threat to the nation’s youth.”   

Prescription Drug Take Back days have historically been very successful.  For example, in April 2019, the 17^th National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which involved almost 5,000 national, tribal, state, and local law enforcement partners, resulted in the collection of 937,443 pounds (468 tons) of prescription drugs at more than 6,200 collection sites.  The program has resulted in the collection of almost 12 million pounds (more than 5,900 tons) since it began 19 years ago. 

The Prescription Drug Take Back is part of a nationwide effort sponsored by the DEA. Containers where unwanted and expired prescription medications may be safely disposed will be at locations across the Baton Rouge Metropolitan area on Saturday, October 26^th from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  New this year, DEA will be accepting vaping devices and cartridges at the drop-off sites.  DEA is unable to accept devices containing lithium ion batteries. (DEA cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps). The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked.

A complete list of locations may be found at WWW.DEA.GOV  by clicking on Drug Take Back and typing in your zip code.

Many Americans are unsure of how to properly dispose of their unused medications and often flush them down the toilet or throw them away. This poses safety and health hazards. More information on how to properly dispose of unused medicines can be found on the Drug Enforcement Administration website.