United States Drug Enforcement Administration

As part of its continuing efforts to reduce drug misuse and overdose, the Drug Enforcement Administration is launching a winter campaign urging the public to “Secure Your Meds.” The current health crisis has magnified the importance of addressing the issue of controlled prescription drug misuse. With Americans spending more time at home due to the pandemic, now is a good opportunity to clean out your medicine cabinets and secure unused medications. This one action can prevent medications from getting into the hands of children and others who may misuse them.

The goal of the Secure Your Meds campaign is to raise awareness of the responsibility to keep prescription and other medications stored securely. Medications that are no longer used or have reached their expiration date should be secured until they can be disposed of in one of the 11,000 authorized, year-round collection sites, or until the next DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, when patients can dispose of unused medications properly at a DEA collection sites.

“It’s vitally important that we secure our meds during the holiday season, with family and friends coming and going during the holidays, the risk of medications ending up in the wrong hands is especially high,” said Deanne Reuter, DEA Denver Field Division Special Agent in Charge.

Medicines that languish in homes cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused and misused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets.

For more information on authorized collection sites, visit: https://apps2.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/pubdispsearch/spring/main?execution=e1s1

For information on safe at-home disposal, visit:

https://archive.epa.gov/region02/capp/web/pdf/ppcpflyer.pdf

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