October 23 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day
Keep them safe! Clean them out! Take them back!
Did you know that your unused or expired prescription drugs could end up lost, stolen or improperly disposed of in ways that threaten children, pets, wild animals, streams and rivers, our water supply and our neighborhoods? That’s why the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holds National Prescription Drug Take Back Days, providing us all with a safe, convenient and anonymous way to clean out those cabinets and make sure that unused and expired drugs get properly discarded and destroyed.
The next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is coming up soon: Saturday, October 23, 2021 from 10am to 2pm.
Put this event in your calendar now and start collecting those unused pill bottles from your bathroom cabinet — and get your loved ones to do the same. Then click on the DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Information Page link below to find the nearest collection site. Here’s a hint: it will likely be your local police department or sheriff’s office. Thanks, guys!
If you aren’t free on October 23, but still want to get rid of your expired drugs safely, click on the Information Page again, then scroll down to the Year-Round Drug Disposal link to find the authorized, year-round collection site in your area.
And here’s a tip: if you are concerned that your older loved ones may have lost control of their prescription schedules, expiration dates or snowballing pill bottle collections, a nurse from Overture Home Care can help bring order to the chaos. Contact us 24/7 at (817) 887-9401 and ask about our Symphony Concierge Nursing service, and how we can help set up a medication schedule, monitor doses and expiration dates, and dispose of any unwanted medications without any additional hassle.
LINKS:
DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Information Page: https://takebackday.dea.gov/
If you have to miss the October 23rd event, can’t find a year-round disposal site near you and really have no other choice, here are a pair of flyers from the EPA and the DEA, suggesting the best available methods for home disposal of prescription drugs: