(COLORADO) — The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Rocky Mountain Field Division said it collected over 18,500 pounds of unneeded prescription medications on National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in October.
The drug take-back day happened on Saturday, Oct. 28 and nationwide DEA and law enforcement partners collected 599,897 pounds of medications at 4,675 collection sites.
The Rocky Mountain Field Division is in charge of 200 sites throughout Colorado, Montana, Utah, and Wyoming. A breakdown across the four states and Tribal land is listed below.
Utah – 8,165 pounds
Colorado – 7,988 pounds
Wyoming – 1,232 pounds
Montana – 1,109 pounds
Tribal Land – 10 pounds
The DEA said for more than 10 years, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day has removed almost 17.9 million pounds of medications from communities across the United States.
“We want to thank everyone who participated in DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day this fall in an effort to make our communities safer and healthier,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge David Olesky. “Take Back Day is a community-wide effort that we cannot accomplish without our law enforcement partners and the public’s participation. We appreciate everyone who took the time to clean out their medicine cabinets and protect their loved ones.”
