National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday

The DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is being held on Saturday, April 30, at various locations throughout Alabama.

This is the 22nd year for the event. There are at least 57 registered collection sites throughout Alabama scheduled to be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 30.

The program is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat the abuse or misuse of potentially dangerous medicines that have expired or are no longer needed for those whom these controlled substances were prescribed.

Law enforcement officers will be present at sites throughout Alabama to receive unused prescription drugs for safe and proper disposal.

Since the first Take Back event in Alabama, in September of 2010, the amount of drugs collected continues to increase. Throughout all of Alabama’s previous DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back events, a total of about 106,096 pounds of unwanted, unused or expired drugs have been removed and disposed of safely, according to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office.

Deliveries of drugs to DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events are confidential, with no personal information collected and no questions asked. Participants are encouraged to remove labels or black-out information beforehand.

Expired drugs may have lost their effectiveness and therefore no longer be a safe and adequate treatment for the conditions for which they were prescribed. In addition to concerns of potential poisoning, abuse or overdose, it also is important environmentally that medicines be disposed of in a proper manner rather than simply being thrown into garbage, flushed away or poured down drains, as they could contaminate water supplies and cause an environmental hazard.

A listing of sites may be found through a search at www.DEATakeBack.com.