By Chapel Taylor-Olsen and Chad Wilkins
Twice per year, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) partners with local, community-based organizations around the country to hold National Take Back Day and take action to prevent the use of medications other than prescribed and other substances, including vape devices.
The DEA began National Prescription Medication Take Back Day in 2010 to provide easy opportunities to remove unused prescriptions and other medications that are highly susceptible to causing issues. The CDC Injury Center reports that 48% of Utah residents were prescribed an opioid medication in 20201 while the American Medical Association reported that 70% of the opioid prescriptions went unused2.
Utahns are not immune to this crisis and these Take Back events are critical in the fight against substance use disorder (SUD) and overdose deaths within our local communities. According to the Utah Department of Health, for every 1,000 persons, Utah providers wrote 622 opioid prescriptions in 2020 1. In 2021, the Office of the Medical Examiner’s Fatal Drug Overdose Surveillance reported 566 accidental overdose deaths in Utah, 69.7% of which involved opioid medication3. By getting unneeded and expired medications out of our homes and into proper disposal receptacles, we can reduce accidental poisonings, SUD and overdoses.
The Carbon & Emery Opioid & Substance Use (CEO-SU) Coalition, local law enforcement, and our partners in Carbon and Emery counties hosted local events during the 2021 Take Back Days. Between the two sponsored locations, the team was able to collect and dispose of over 140 pounds of unused medications from our rural communities. On the last Take Back Day in October 2021, a total of 10,310 pounds of medications were collected from Utah communities. Everyone who came to the event received a swag bag with educational materials and goodies donated by coalition partners.
This spring, Take Back Day falls on Saturday, April 30 and we will be at it again. We will have a location in Carbon County (Price City Fire Station) and another in Emery County (Green River Medical Center). Both locations will have easy, drive-through access to anonymous medication or vape device drop-off from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Local law enforcement will be on hand to properly dispose of any medications or vape devices (without the battery). Stop in early to make sure you get a swag bag! Follow us on Facebook at https://fb.me/e/1LZual2Rc or find a location near you now at takebackday.dea.gov.
Resources:
DEA Drop Box Finder
bit.ly/3tvUgQy
DEA National Take Back Day Website
https://takebackday.dea.gov/
Utah Drop Box Locator
https://useonlyasdirected.org/locations
SAHMSA Opioid Treatment Site Locator
https://Dpt2.samhsa.gov/treatment/directory.aspx
Utah Resource Locator
https://211utah.org/
References
1 Utah Department of Health Opioid Data Dashboard
2 Prescription Opioid Analgesics Commonly Unused After Surgery: A Systematic Review. 2017. JAMA.
3 Office of the Medical Examiner’s Fatal Drug Overdose Surveillance Report