United States Drug Enforcement Administration

BOSTON – The final tally is in from the 16th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Oct. 27, 2018. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s New England Field Division and its partners, over the course of four hours, collected 80,277.68 pounds or 40 tons of expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs at 613 collection sites throughout New England. This is in comparison to the first National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in September 2010, when the division collected 25,810 pounds of unwanted drugs. It is estimated that 10 percent of the drugs collected are opioid pain killers, which would represent approximately 8,818 pounds of opioids that are out of medicine cabinets and potentially off our streets.

“We are pleased to see that New Englanders are motivated and continue to make their homes safer for our youth,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Brian D. Boyle. “Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. These efforts help remove unwanted, expired and unused prescription pills that can be abused, stolen, or resold which helps our continued dedication to combat the prescription pill, fentanyl and heroin epidemic. DEA thanks the citizens of New England and our dedicated law enforcement partners for their efforts in making this initiative a success.”

The following is a breakdown of collected weights for the six New England States:

CT – 4,792.30

MA – 26,255.58

ME – 27,156.70

NH – 11,880

RI – 4,364.10

VT – 5,829

Total- 80,277.68