Hospitals and health systems across the nation are among thousands of healthcare facilities participating in the Drug Enforcement Agency's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Oct. 28.
The semiannual event encourages people to dig through their medicine cabinets to return unused prescriptions to safe disposal sites. For the 25th event, locations include Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare; Reading (Pa.) Hospital; Monongahela, Pa.-based Penn Highlands Mon Valley; Paris (Texas) Regional Health; Cleveland-based University Hospitals; and Cleveland Clinic.
Patients can anonymously discard unused or expired medications by blacking out or removing personal information from labels. The event was created to reduce overdoses and illegal uses of old prescriptions.
On the last Drug Take Back day in April, nearly 5,000 collection sites collected 332 tons, equalling 663,725 pounds, according to the DEA.