Press Release
On Saturday, April 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Carbon & Emery Opioid & Substance Use Coalition, local law enforcement, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will provide the public the opportunity to prevent prescription medication misuse and theft by clearing their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications.
Bring your pills for a drive-through disposal to one of two locations: the Carbon County Sheriff Office in Price or Stewart’s in Castle Dale. (Sites cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps; only pills or patches.) The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
This April event is the DEA’s 20th nationwide event since its inception 10 years ago.
Last fall, Americans turned in nearly 883,000 pounds of prescription medications at nearly 6,300 sites operated by the DEA and almost 5,000 of its state and local law enforcement partners. The DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has now collected nearly 6,350 tons of expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications since the inception of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative in 2010.
To keep everyone safe, collection sites will follow local COVID-19 guidelines and regulations. This will be a drive-through event with local resources provided when you drop off your medications.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion and misuse. Rates of prescription medication misuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these medications.
In addition to DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, there are many other ways to dispose of unwanted prescription medications every day, including the 11,000 authorized collectors that are available all year long. For more information, visit DEA’s year-round collection site locator.
The FDA also provides information on how to properly dispose of prescription medications. More information is available here:
htt.ps://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines.
For more information about the disposal of prescription medications or about the April 24 Take Back Day event, go to www.DEATakeBack.com.