DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Hits Record High

DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Hits Record High

As most of you know, we are facing an ongoing drug epidemic in the United States today. Although prevalent in our communities, there are those trying to do their part to combat this epidemic. On a national level, the DEA has attempted to take control of this epidemic by various measures, one being the implementation of “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.”

What is "National Prescription Drug Take Back Day" you may ask? According to the DEA, it is a day where Americans all across the country can drop off any unused, unwanted or expired prescription medications at which time local, state and federal partners of the DEA collect these prescriptions and destroy them. The purpose of Take Back Day is to prevent individuals from either stealing these unused prescriptions from family or friends and/or from abusing these medications personally.

According to the DEA’s website, this year’s Take Back Day brought in record numbers of prescription pills being dropped off and led to the destruction of close to one million pounds of drugs. Because of this success, the DEA plans to continue with Take Back Day and has set an October 27, 2018 date for the next planned event. If you are interested in finding your local authorized collector to drop off any unused or expired prescription medications, the DEA’s website will allow you to search within your area to find a location.

On a more local level, this past March, the Wheeling community participated in Drug Take Back Day which was sponsored by Cardinal Health, the Ohio County Sheriff’s Department and Elm Grove Pharmacy and was garnered as a success by those who organized the event. It will be interesting to see if Drug Take Back Day becomes more prevalent as the battle against the prescription drug epidemic wages on.