October 24, 2020 Is National Drug Take Back Day

National Drug Take Back Day is this Saturday, October 24th from 10AM-2PM. 

Do you have expired or unused prescription medications around your house? Participation in the annual National Drug Take-Back Day is the best way to get rid of them in a safe and effective way. The Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) stated reason for Take Back Day is to “provide opportunity to prevent drug addition and overdose deaths.” Abused prescription drugs are considered both crucial public safety and public health issues.

Listed below are local “National Drug Take Back Day” participating locations and addresses:

Fairfax County, Virginia:

• Fair Oaks District Station – 12300 Lee Jackson Memorial Highway, Fairfax
• Franconia District Station – 6121 Franconia Road, Alexandria
• Mason District Station – 6507 Columbia Pike, Annandale
• McLean District Station – 1437 Balls Hill Road, McLean
• Mount Vernon District Station – 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria
• Reston Hospital– 1850 Town Center Pkwy, Reston
• Sully District Station – 4900 Stonecroft Boulevard, Chantilly
• West Springfield District Station – 6140 Rolling Road, Springfield

Washington, DC

• Washington Metropolitan Police Department, Third Police District,1620 V Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
• Washington Metropolitan Police Department, First Police District, 101 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024
• DEA-Headquarters, Pentagon Parking Lot, (ARMY/NAVY DR) Between Fern St & Eads St, 551 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 22202

Maryland

• The Maryland Department of the Environment includes instructions for residential leftover and/expired medication collection for multiple jurisdictions.

If you do not see a location near you, you can look one up here.  You can also search for year-round pharmaceutical drop off locations here.

This initiative is led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with a goal to provide an anonymous, “safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing prescription drugs, while also educating the general public about the potential for abuse of medications.”

Alternatively, if you are not able to participate in the National Drug Take-Back event, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides recommendations for how to properly dispose of medications. According to the EPA, medicine disposal that is done properly protects individuals and the environment in the following ways:

• “Prevents poisoning of children and pets;
• Deters misuse by teenagers and adults;
• Avoids health problems from accidentally taking the wrong medicine, too much of the same medicine, or a medicine that is too old to work well;
• Keeps medicines from entering streams and rivers when poured down the drain or flushed down the toilet.”

Practicing safe prescription drug disposal is a civic responsibility that we should all care about.