The DEA hosts no-questions-asked National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days twice a year. The goal is to prevent abused or misused medications from getting into the wrong hands by collecting and disposing of unwanted prescription drugs from households.

Many people don’t know what to do with unused or expired medicines that accumulate in their home medicine cabinets. Studies have shown that a lot of the prescription drugs used by people who abuse them come from home medicine cabinets. Drugs thrown in the trash can be retrieved and sold or abused, and those flushed down toilets may contaminate water supplies.

Takebackyourmeds Your Meds is a new initiative to help keep unneeded prescription drugs out of our communities. The program partners with local law enforcement and other agencies to host events across the country to collect unused or expired medications.

Take Back Your Meds: Empowering Communities to Tackle the Opioid Crisis

If you don’t have the option to drop off your medications at a site or event, you can still dispose of them safely in your household trash. Always read the label on your medication for instructions on the best way to dispose of it. If there are no instructions, mix your medication with something inedible like kitty litter or used coffee grounds, then place it into a plastic bag and throw it in the garbage. Make sure to scratch out or mark out any personal information on the prescription bottle and discard it separately from other household trash.

You can also bring unneeded or expired medications to any CVS Pharmacy location where we have a safe medication disposal kiosk in the waiting area of the store. These units are open during regular pharmacy hours.