DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Day Removes Almost 600,000 Pounds of Unneeded Prescription Medications Across the Country
DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in Anchorage
SEATTLE, Wash. – On Oct. 28, 2023, the community once again emptied their medicine cabinets to help dispose of old, unwanted, and expired medications. Nationwide, DEA and its law enforcement partners collected 599,897 pounds of unneeded medications at 4,675 collection sites nationwide.
Locally, the DEA Seattle Field Division collected 15,799 pounds with the help of 126 partners between 147 sites.
Washington: 5,416 pounds
Oregon: 2,956 pounds
Idaho: 4,500 pounds
Alaska: 2,927 pounds
For more than a decade, DEA’s National Prescription Take Back Day has removed almost 17.9 million pounds of unneeded medications from communities across the country. According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a majority of people who use prescription medication for a nonmedical purpose obtained that medication from a family member or friend. Removing unnecessary medications from the home can help prevent situations involving; not taking medication as intended or dosed; taking someone else’s prescription; and taking the medicine for euphoric effects rather than medicinal purposes.
“DEA is committed to protecting the communities we serve and one way we do this is by collecting unused and unneeded prescription medications,” said David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division. “Too often, substance misuse starts when young people take drugs they do not need from their parent’s or grandparent’s medicine cabinet. National Prescription Take Back Day is an easy way that you can help protect our communities and our families from substance misuse.”
DEA continues to expand opportunities to make safe disposal of medications more accessible nationwide. We encourage people to remove unnecessary medications from their home regularly and dispose of it at one of the nearly 17,000 permanent drug-drop boxes located in communities across the country. Those locations can be found here. Safe medication disposal receptacles along with DEA Take Back events provide families easy, no-cost opportunities to get rid of unnecessary medicines stored in the home.
Complete results for DEA’s fall National Prescription Drug Take Back Day are available at Take Back Day (dea.gov).
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