The Santa Monica Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its seventh opportunity in three years this Saturday to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.
The public is encouraged to bring medications for disposal to the Public Safety Facility (front curb) at 333 Olympic Drive between 10 am and 2 pm. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last April, Americans turned in 371 tons (over 742,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 5,800 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners.
In its six previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2.8 million pounds – more than 1,400 tons – of pills.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.
The DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or pet or their family member or owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.
The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.
