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Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Pounds and Pounds of Excess Prescription Pills
Photo by somegeekintn via Flickr
If you're hoarding masses of excess prescription pills and aren't sure of when or how to just get rid of them, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is ready to serve you. On Saturday, April 30th, they will be hosting their second National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day at sites throughout Southern California. The service is anonymous and free, no questions asked--just show up and drop off all those pills you don't want in your home anymore.The DEA's Take-Back day in September in the greater Los Angeles netted 8,190 pounds of pills. Nationwide, Americans surrendered over 242,000 pounds—121 tons—of prescription drugs at nearly 4,100 sites operated by more than 3,000 of the DEA’s state and local law enforcement partners. And since this is America, it's time to go bigger; the DEA is hoping to collect even more pills this time around.
Why does the DEA want those unused pills out of your medicine cabinet? Timothy J. Landrum, DEA Special Agent in Charge explains: “Unused or expired medications are a public safety issue, and can lead to accidental poisoning, overdose and abuse. That is why we are committed to helping keep homes in our communities safe, by ridding our medicine cabinets of expired, unused, and unwanted drugs.”
Public collection sites are searchable via the DEA's website (use the zip code database found via the "Got Drugs" icon link). Locally, the sites will be available on the 30th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
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