Saturday 4/24 is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Almost all of us have leftover medications in our medicine cabinets. I think it is actually a requirement of adulthood - like it's written in the Adulting 101 manual.

Of course, I'm kidding. There is no handbook for being an adult, no matter how much we wish there were but reality is you probably have leftover medications somewhere in your home. Whether they're prescription antacid tablets or that one medication that just didn't work right so you have half a bottle leftover because your doctor changed you to something else. Whatever the case may be, you've probably wondered how to properly dispose of those old medicines.

You've likely considered just throwing them away or flushing down the toilet, but believe it or not, that's not the proper way to dispose of leftover prescription drugs and actually be dangerous for a number of reasons. So what do you do with them? Participate in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. This is a safe, effective way to rid yourself of medications you no longer want or need and helps to ensure that they don't end up being misused by someone else.

Saturday, April 24, 2021 is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. In Kentucky there will be 54 locations across 33 counties that you can drop off your old prescriptions between the hours of 10am - 2pm. According to the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, since 2011, Kentucky has collected 163,037 pounds of unwanted and unused prescription medications.

In October of 2020, the DEA collected nearly 500 tons of prescription drugs,

• Total Law Enforcement Participation: 4,153
• Total Collection Sites: 4,587
• Total Weight* Collected:  985,392 lbs. (492.7 Tons)

To find your drop-off location by the state, county & city visit the DEA's official Take Back Day website.