National Prescription Drug Take Back Day: What Older Adults and Caregivers Should Know

This Saturday, April 26, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will launch its National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

The goal of this initiative is simple but vital: to make it easier and safer for people to dispose of expired or unused prescription drugs.

This event is especially important for older adults and their caregivers. It’s a great reminder to check your medicine cabinets and safely get rid of anything that’s no longer needed.

This matters more than ever, as studies show that nearly four in ten older adults take five or more prescription medications—a number that has tripled over the past two decades.

Even more concerning, around two in ten seniors take ten or more medications.

When not properly monitored, these unused or expired medications can pose serious health and safety risks—not just to the person who was prescribed them, but to everyone in the household. According to the San Bernardino County: "The majority of opioid addictions begin with prescription pills found in home medicine cabinets. Pharmaceutical drugs can be as dangerous as street drugs when taken without a prescription or a doctor’s supervision"

Children are particularly vulnerable.

In 2020 alone, more than 36,000 emergency room visits were reported among children under the age of five due to unsupervised medication exposure.

Teens also often find prescription and over-the-counter medications right in their own homes, whether in a medicine cabinet or on a kitchen shelf.

Safe and responsible ways to dispose of medications.

1. In some cases, your healthcare provider or pharmacist may give you specific instructions for how to properly dispose of certain prescriptions. If so, be sure to follow those directions.

2. You can also take advantage of the 17,000 DEA-registered disposal locations nationwide. These collection sites accept unused or expired medications and ensure they are destroyed safely. To find one near you, visit the Year-Round Drop-Off Locations website or see the curated list of drug disposals on Google Maps.

3. Another option is to use a drug mail-back envelope, which allows you to send unused medications through the U.S. Postal Service. These envelopes can be purchased at many retail pharmacies or online.
   

4. There are a few select medicines that the FDA recommends to be flushed if you cannot immediately do any of the options above. These are deadly medications if taken in one dose or inappropriately. Flushing medications can harm the environment by contaminating water systems and wildlife, especially fish. But the FDA believes the known risk of harm to humans from accidental exposure to these medicines far outweighs any potential risk to human health or the environment from flushing these medicines. It's also important to know that some communities strictly prohibit flushing medications. Only flush medicines down the sink or toilet if the prescription label or accompanying patient information clearly says it's safe to do so.
   

   The U.S. Food and Drug Administration provides a list of drugs that fall into this category. You can find the list at FDA’s flush list.

   
   

Note: No matter how you dispose of your medications, be sure to remove or black out any personal information on the prescription labels before tossing the containers. Note 2: For needle disposal please refer to this.

Why not just throw it in the trash? You may wonder why you can’t just throw medications in the trash. The truth is, drugs thrown in the garbage can easily be retrieved and misused. In some cases, they can even be sold illegally. Improper disposal like this contributes to the ongoing opioid crisis and puts others at risk.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is more than just a date on the calendar.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is a helpful reminder of the harmful effects of improper medication disposal—but the responsibility to dispose of medications safely is something we all share, all year long.

A few minutes spent cleaning out your medicine cabinet could save a life and protect your household and community from avoidable harm.