Got Drugs? Virginia Take-Back Drug Day is April 27, 2013

Web Button-round-400x400pxMark your calendars now for April 27, 2013 – Virginia’s Take-Back Drug Day.

Virginia’s statewide Drug Take-Back Day is an effort to prevent prescription drug abuse and to keep trace drugs out of our lakes and streams.  In communities all across the Commonwealth, it is a day where citizens can drop off their unused, unwanted, or expired medications at their local law enforcement agencies for safe disposal.

Drug Take-Back Day is an effort to prevent prescription drug abuse and to keep trace drugs out of our lakes and streams (wastewater treatment plants cannot remove many compounds found in medications; so when flushed or put in a landfill, drugs are discharged into our surface and ground water and consumed by fish and wildlife).

Keep Kids Safer

It’s also a way to keep unused and expired drugs out of the hands of children. A growing concern is that prescription medications are being taken from medicine cabinets or the trash by those who abuse drugs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in one month alone, nearly seven million Americans over the age of 12 reported abusing prescription medications. In fact, approximately 60 percent of people who abuse prescription painkillers indicate that they obtained the prescription drugs from friends or relatives for free, often taking the drugs without permission.

Children or pets may ingest undisposed or improperly disposed medications. This can lead to overdose, injury, and even death.

  • It’s anonymous and free
  • Prescription and over-the-counter medications will be accepted
  • Please, no intravenous solutions, injectables, or needles

Click here to find a drug disposal location near you. Keep your kids and pets safer by properly disposing of medications.