Record Breaking Drug Take Back Day

Attorney General Pam Bondi is highlighting last month’s record breaking National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. On Oct. 28, 2017, the Drug Enforcement Administration collected 912,305 pounds of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs across the country. As part of the Drug Take Back Day Program, Americans are encouraged to empty their medicine cabinets of expired or unnecessary drugs and turn this medicine into participating collection sites nationwide for proper disposal.
“Being in the midst of the deadly opioid epidemic, I am encouraged and proud that so many Americans are stepping up to prevent drug abuse,” said Attorney General Bondi. “I want to thank Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the hard-working men and women at the DEA and everyone who answered the call to action to enable this record amount of prescription drugs to be disposed of properly—and not used to exacerbate the national opioid epidemic.”
In Florida alone, individuals turned in more than 26,000 pounds of prescription drugs to 155 collection sites.
According to the DEA, since starting Prescription Drug Take Back Days in 2010, the agency has collected more than 9 million unused drugs through the nationwide program.
The next Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be held on April 28, 2018.