Drug Take-Back Program
The City of Long Beach Police Department has once again partnered with the DEA and Long Beach Aware to hold A Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 26 2024. The event will take place from 10:00am to 12:00pm in front of Long Beach City Hall (1 West Chester Street, Long Beach, NY). The program will also be held in the spring.
Unneeded prescription medication–those that are old, unwanted, or no longer needed – are a public safety issue, too often becoming a gateway to addiction.
The majority of opioid addictions start with prescription pills found in medicine cabinets at home.
DEA’s National Prescription Drug Tack Back Day events are one way to dispose of unneeded medications. The public can drop off potentially dangerous prescription medications at the site, right here in Long Beach. DEA and its partners will collect tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids (including intravenous solutions), syringes and other sharps. Illegal drugs will not be accepted. The DEA will accept vaping devices and cartridges at its drop off locations provided lithium batteries are removed.
The DEA has collected a record-high amount of expired, unwanted, and unused prescription medications, with the public turning in close to 500 tons of unwanted drugs. Over the 10-year span of Take Back Day, DEA has brought in more than 6,800 tons of prescription drugs. With studies indicating a majority of abused prescription drugs come from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets, clearing out unused medicine is essential.
Helping people dispose of potentially harmful prescription drugs is just one way we are working to reduce addiction and stem overdose deaths.