Get Rid of Old Prescription Drugs at DEA Take Back Day

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has scheduled a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Anyone with unneeded prescription drugs can drop them off safetly that day.

The closest locations to Strongsville are:

Discount Drug Mart parking lot in North Royalton, 5500 Wallings Rd.; Sanford Brown College, 17535 Rosbough Drive, Cleveland; and North Park Retirement Community, 14801 Holland Road, Brook Park. All three will be run by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Department.

Medway Drug Enforcement Agency will run a collection point at the Brunswick Police Department, 4095 Center Rd. And the Ohio Prescription Drug Abuse Task Force will collect pills at the Columbia Township Fire Station, 25540 Royalton Rd.

More than seven million Americans currently abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2009 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Each day, approximately 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time according to the Partnership for a Drug Free America. 

Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet.

The first national take-back days were Sept. 25, 2010 and April 25, 2011.

Nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement agencies participated, collecting more than 309 tons of pills.

Four days after last fall’s Take-Back Day, Congress passed legislation to allow the DEA to develop a process for people to safely dispose of their prescription drugs. DEA is now designing that process, but will hold Take Back Days every six months until it is complete.