Mecklenburg County will have five more locations to safely dispose of unneeded or expired medications tomorrow as part of Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Organized nationwide by the Drug Enforcement Administration in collaboration with local law enforcement, the event takes place twice a year and aims to help the public easily and anonymously dispose of medications. The goal is to keep prescription drugs from ending up in the wrong hands — those who purposely misuse them and young children who ingest them, not knowing what they are.
Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg, an organization that focuses on preventing childhood injury and death, is working with the Charlotte DEA office and the Mint Hill Police Department to coordinate the event. They’ll be collecting tablets, capsules, patches and other solid forms of prescription drugs at four Harris Teeter locations and the Mint Hill police headquarters from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. The DEA's site locator tool can be used to find the drop-off sites.
Coordinator of Safe Kids Charlotte-Mecklenburg Janice Williams, says prescription drugs like antidepressants and painkillers can be especially dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands.
“Because of the lethality of this type of medicine, one pill can do a lot of damage and those are the same medicines that cause addiction and impairment,” said Williams. "There's just so much out there that we want to raise awareness in the public, but also provide a location that they can bring it to us that we can dispose of those risky things before letting anybody else have access to them.”
According to the National Institute of Health, in 2021, over 14 million people, aged 12 or older, reported misusing a prescription psychotherapeutic drug like Ritalin and Zoloft while around 8 million misused prescription pain relievers.
Since its inception in 2010, Drug Take Back Day has removed 8,318 tons of unwanted, expired, or old medication from homes nationwide. Last October, the DEA collected 324 tons of medication nationwide. About 3.7% of that came from North Carolina alone.
The collection sites will not accept syringes, sharp tools and illicit drugs. Liquid products should remain sealed in their original container.
If you miss the event, there are year-round drop-off boxesat the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police headquarters and some local pharmacies.