Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out Time: Drug Take Back Just Few Days Away

EAST HAVEN, CT — The Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Campaign is underway. This year, at the East Haven Police Department in the front lobby, Take Back Day is set for Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. where folks can drop off unneeded prescription medications.

The last national Take Back Day in October 2024, with more than 4,000 law enforcement participation/collection sites, netted 314 tons of prescription medications.

According to the DEA, the drug overdose epidemic in the U.S. is a clear and present public health, public safety, and national security threat.

"The DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day reflects DEA’s commitment to Americans’ safety and health, encouraging the public to remove unneeded medications from their homes as a measure of preventing medication misuse and opioid addiction from ever starting," the agency notes. "DEA is committed to making our communities safer and healthier, and we can do this by reducing overdoses and overdose deaths. While the community does its part to turn in unneeded medications and remove them from potential harm, we are doing our part to further reduce drug-related violence.