This Saturday, October 27th, 2018, the DEA is holding a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 10 A.M. to 2 P.M. You may bring your unwanted, unused, and expired prescription medications to a local DEA-authorized collection site near you to dispose of such prescription drugs safely.
To find a collection site near you, please visit this website to check your local participating DEA Take Back facility:
Take Back Day Collection Site Locator
According to the DEA’s 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment, drug poisoning incidents were responsible for more deaths than murder, suicide, motor vehicle accidents, and firearm accidents at nearly 140 deaths per day in 2015. These statistics reflect a growing trend of abuse and misuse of prescription medications. Additionally, many of those misusing prescription meds were between 18 and 25 years of age.
Frequent public service announcements are shown on television and billboards encouraging you not to share your prescription drugs, and to secure your medicines so that they are not subject to theft and drug abuse.
The problem with this is: you may have purchased these medicines, but it’s difficult to know how to get rid of them. No, you absolutely should not flush your prescriptions down the toilet or throw them in the trash. The best option is to bring these medicines to a secure drop location, typically located at a pharmacy, local law enforcement office that accepts prescriptions, or the University of Utah Medication Disposal drop center.
And of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that here at Full Circle Care, we offer bodywork, injection therapy techniques, vitamin injections, and natural medicines that may help improve pain without the use of prescription pain medications.
Happy prescription take back, Happy Halloween, and have a great day!
Dr. Reed