Arizona Communities Team up with DEA & Partners Turning in 4 Tons of Unneeded Prescription Medications
PHOENIX – On Oct. 29, 2022, communities across the country demonstrated their continued support for DEA’s bi-annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day by safely disposing of more than 647,000 pounds of unneeded medications at nearly 5,000 collection sites across the country. Since its inception in 2010, DEA’s National Prescription Take Back Day has removed almost 17 million pounds of unneeded medications from communities across the country.
In Arizona, communities came out to 85 collection sites and turned in 8,279 pounds of unneeded prescription medications. Last April, residents of Arizona turned in 8,215 pounds which brings the 2022 total to over 8 tons!
“Thank you Arizona, for taking part in this critical campaign and cleaning out your medicine cabinets,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz. “We are stronger together and together we can turn the tide and save lives.”
DEA continues to expand opportunities to make safe disposal of medications more accessible nationwide. DEA is pleased to announce it has registered a record number of authorized collectors – pharmacies and medical facilities – to collect unused and unwanted prescription drugs year-round. Since April 2017, DEA increased the number of authorized collectors from more than 2,200 to 15,000. A list of permanent drug-drop boxes located in communities across the country 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 that can be susceptible to abuse and theft.
Complete results for DEA’s fall National Prescription Drug Take Back Day are available at www.DEATakeBack.com.
