National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is on Saturday, Oct. 27. It is the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) way of helping the public dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

On Oct. 27, the DEA is holding a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in thousands of locations all across the country from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone can bring their expired or unused prescription drugs to a collection site nearest to them, which they can locate via the DEA’s Collection Site Locator at its website.

Last April’s Take Back Day brought in a record number of unused prescription drugs, collecting close to 1 million pounds of pills from 5,842 sites all across the country. That brings the total drug collection by the DEA to 9,964,714 pounds, or 4,982 tons or unused prescription drugs since the fall of 2010.

Safe Way To Dispose Of Prescription Drugs

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.2 million Americans misuse prescription drugs, with a majority of them obtaining the abused drugs from home medicine cabinets of family or friends. It has become a crucial public health and public safety issue that needs to be addressed.

The DEA’s event is made to provide the public a safe opportunity to anonymously dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs so as to avoid being misused by others and prevent overdose deaths. This is in line with the Drug Disposal Act, which encourages both public and private entities to provide and develop a variety of safer ways to dispose of prescription drugs in a responsible manner.

“DEA's National Drug Take Back Days are important opportunities for people to turn in unwanted and potentially addictive drugs with no questions asked,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions had stated after the April Take Back Day. “I have no doubt it will help keep drugs out of the wrong hands and stop the spread of addiction.”