The Drug Enforcement Administration will host its 21st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday. The event provides drive through, drop off locations for people to anonymously dispose of unneeded medications.
Scott Silverman is the CEO of Confidential Recovery and a crisis coach in San Diego.
“If you don’t need the medication, don’t save it for a rainy day. This is not the kind of thing you want around the house,” Silverman said. “This only happens a couple times a year. This is a great day to go into your medicine cabinet and take a look at what you’ve got in there and dispose of it in an easy, safe way.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that last year, more than 93,000 people died of drug overdoses in the US, marking the largest number of drug related deaths ever recorded in a year.
“There aren’t many times, we as a community can all rally around a concept that really makes sense and take advantage of it and do it and it doesn’t cost anything,” Silverman said.
Take Back Day has removed more than 7,000 tons of medication from circulation since 2010.
“You put it in a bag. You take it to one of the drop off points which you can find on their website and there’s no questions asked,” Silverman said. “And they take it from you and then their job is to dispose of it in a safe way.”
Solid forms of prescription drugs like tablets, capsules and patches, even vaping devices with the batteries removed are accepted. But syringes and other sharps, liquids and illicit drugs are not.
There are 19 drop off locations throughout San Diego county, including locations on military bases that are open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
