The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will host its 22nd National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., at more than 4,000 collection sites across the nation including 162 sites in the five state Omaha Division. This bi-annual event offers free, anonymous disposal of unneeded medications. To locate a collection site, visit www.DEATakeBack.com.
“By removing the threat of unused prescription medications from homes, we eliminate the chance of experimentation, misuse and potential overdose,” DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said. “We encourage families to take this day as an opportunity to dispose of unneeded medications, but also to start the conversation with children about the dangers of taking medications not prescribed to them.”
According to a report published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a majority of people who misused a prescription medication obtained the medicine from a family member or friend.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, more than 106,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose in the 12-month period ending November 2021, marking the most drug-related deaths ever recorded, with opioid-related deaths accounting for 75 percent of all overdose deaths.
For more than a decade, DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day has helped Americans easily rid their homes of unneeded medications—those that are old, unwanted, or no longer needed—that too often become a gateway to addiction. Working in close partnership with local law enforcement, Take Back Day has removed more than 15 million pounds of medication from circulation since its inception. These efforts are directly in line with DEA’s priority to combat the overdose epidemic in the United States.
On Saturday, April 30, DEA and its law enforcement partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps, and illicit drugs will not be accepted. DEA will accept vaping devices and cartridges as long as lithium batteries are removed.
Year-round receptacles are available at more than 13,000 pharmacies, hospitals, police departments, and business. Additionally, with the passage of the DUMP Opioids Act in 2021, the public may now use drop boxes at Veterans Administration medical centers to dispose of controlled substance prescription medications. Check with your local VA health facility for more information. With more than 13,000 year-round drop-off locations in the United States, every day can be Take Back day.