This spring, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its national and community partners will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. On Saturday, April 28th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, DEA and its partners will hold their fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day at sites nationwide. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Participating agencies in the Northern and Eastern Judicial Districts of California include state and local law enforcement located in the following counties: Alameda, Amador, Butte, Contra Costa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Marin, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba. Collection sites in every local community can be found by going to www.dea.gov. This site will be continuously updated with new take-back locations.

Americans participating in DEA’s three previous Take-Back Days turned in nearly a million pounds— almost 500 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,300 sites operated by more than 4,000 of the DEA’s state and local law enforcement partners. Last fall’s event encouraged participation by long term care facilities and Indian nations as well as the general public.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high--more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

―Prescription drug abuse is a serious public health issue and can have a devastating impact on families and communities. We can all make a difference by taking advantage of this opportunity to clean out our medicine cabinets of unused medications and disposing of them at a prescription drug take-back site during this event, stated DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams.