The Drug Enforcement Administration has announced its second annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, to take place this Saturday, April 30. More than 4,700 sites throughout the country have agreed to participate in this focus on safely disposing unwanted prescription drugs.
The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time and aims to collect medication that is no longer needed in order to minimize the nation’s prescription drug abuse problem. “I encourage every American to take advantage of this valuable opportunity to safely dispose of unused, un-needed, or expired prescription drugs,” said Gil Kerlikowkse, Director of National Drug Control Policy. “Preventing these readily available and potentially deadly drugs from being diverted and misused is something each and every one of us can do to help reduce the epidemic of prescription drug abuse that is harming so many Americans.”
Last year’s event collected more than 121 tons of unneeded or expired medication for disposal. Proper disposal of unused drugs both prevents drug abuse and protects the environment, since unused prescription drugs flushed down the toilet contaminate the water supply, and unused medication thrown in the trash can be retrieved and abused or illegally sold.
