Final Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Collects 617,150 Pounds of Unwanted Medications

Over 600,000 pounds of unneeded, unwanted, or expired prescription medications were properly disposed of during the final Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, held September 27, 2014. DEA and its law enforcement partners provided 5,495 collection sites across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and United States territories, DEA reports. Following the release of DEA’s recently published final rule on the disposal of controlled substances, the agency announced that this would be the last DEA Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. After nine events, DEA has collected more than 4.8 million pounds of unwanted medication for safe and secure disposal.

NABP’s AWAR_XE^® Prescription Drug Safety Program encouraged consumer participation in DEA Take-Back Day events since they began in 2010. Going forward, the program continues to provide resources for methods of safe medication disposal and educational information about the importance of safe drug disposal. Consumers who were unable to participate in the DEA Take-Back Day can check the Get Local section of the AWAR_XE website for state-specific listings of prescription medication drop box locations. Note that some community drop box programs are unable to accept controlled substance medications for disposal.