DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Removes 642,410 Pounds of Unwanted Medications
More than 30,000 pounds of medications were disposed of across Kansas, Missouri and Southern Illinois.
ST LOUIS – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) joined 4,306 law enforcement agencies across the country in collecting 642,410 pounds of unneeded and expired medications at the 30th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, April 25. Of the nationwide total, more than 30,000 pounds were collected from 323 Take Back locations set up across the three state DEA St. Louis Field Division.
“Roughly 15 tons of medications were safely disposed of within our region,” DEA St. Louis Field Division Special Agent in Charge Michael Davis said. “Community members across Missouri, Kansas and Southern Illinois see value in DEA’s bi-annual Take Back Day event. This is an opportunity to keep harmful products from entering our landfills and waterways, but it’s also a chance to remove substances that have the potential for misuse or abuse. We’re thankful for the support of our community members who showed up and also our law enforcement partners who helped make the event such a success.”
Since its inception in 2010, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day has collected
21,034,225 pounds – the equivalent of more than 10,500 tons – of unnecessary medications from homes to help prevent prescription drug misuse and reduce the risk of accidental overdoses and poisonings.
For those unable to participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, there are more than 16,500 pharmacies, hospitals, and businesses, in addition to many police departments, that offer safe medication disposal year-round. For information on permanent drop boxes, please visit DEA’s Every Day is Take Back Day page.
Complete results for DEA’s Spring National Prescription Drug Take Back Day are available on DEA’s Take Back Day page.
