Safely dispose of prescription medicine with DEA’s national ‘Takeback’

TYLER Texas ( KETK ) – Every year, over two million prescriptions are written in Texas, but they aren’t always used. National Takeback Day gives residents the opportunity to safely dispose of their unused meds.

Despite every best effort, sometimes prescription meds can end up in the wrong hands and law enforcement is working to keep all controlled substances off the street.

On Saturday, several East Texas locations are giving residents the chance to drop off their unused prescriptions so that they can be disposed of safely.

“East Texas has a slightly above average prescription rate. It tends to be overprescribing of prescription drugs here in East Texas, and as a matter of fact, in an older study, in the top 25 cities for opioid misuse, two of them were in Texas, Texarkana and Longview,” Joseph Byrum, director of prevention programs at Next Step Community Solutions, said.

Drop-off locations for Takeback Day can be found here .

Anyone unable to make it to a drop-off location can use one of the 30 permanent drop-boxes in East Texas.

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