By DEA OMAHA
Communities across the five state DEA Omaha Division, which includes Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota, demonstrated their support for DEA’s annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day by dropping off 18,729 pounds of unneeded medications at 176 collection sites on April 30. Nationally, DEA collected more than 720,000 pounds of medications at 5,144 collection sites. Since 2010, DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, has collected nearly 16 million pounds of unneeded prescription medications.
“The success of our event wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of our state, local and tribal law enforcement partners,” DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin King said. “This spring, despite several rain showers across parts of our Division, we collected more than nine tons of medications. We’re grateful for the support of our communities and to everyone who dropped off medications. Together, we removed the temptation for misuse of unused prescription medications from quite a few households.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that in the United States, over 107,000 people died as the result of a drug overdose last year. This figure means that someone in the United States is dying of a drug overdose every five minutes.
Take Back Day events provide easy, no-cost opportunities to dispose of medicines stored in the home that are susceptible to abuse and theft. There are many permanent drug-drop boxes located in communities across the country. A list of permanent locations can be found here.
Complete results for DEA’s spring National Prescription Drug Take Back Day are available at www.DEATakeBack.com. DEA’s next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for October 29, 2022.