Eagle County, CO. - Law enforcement agencies across the country will be participating in the 22nd annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 30, 2022.
Local personnel will be on-site, and hosting collection sites from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the following locations :
Vail Police Department: Vail Municipal Bldg, at 75 S. Frontage Rd, Vail CO 81657
Avon Police Department: Walmart, 171 Yoder Ave, Avon, CO 81620
Eagle County Sheriff’s Office: City Market Eagle, 103 Market Street, Eagle, CO 81631
Carbondale Police Department: Police Station, 511 Colorado Ave #911, Carbondale, CO 81623
This is an opportunity to clean out your medicine cabinets of all unwanted, expired, or unused medications and have them disposed of safely. The service is free and anonymous with no questions asked.
Items that can be dropped off during the Saturday events are vitamins, supplements, medicated ointments/lotions, over-the-counter and prescription medications, including controlled substances (narcotics). Please, no needles (sharps) or pressurized canisters.
Getting rid of unused medication helps prevent the accidental and intentional misuse of prescription medications. Local agency partners at Medical Facilities, Landfills, and Water & Sanitation Districts all support the safe disposal of medications because it helps to protect our water sources by keeping drugs out of local wastewater and landfills.
The collected items will be incinerated in an environmentally friendly manner by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which spearheads the national effort. Locally, the DEA’s National Take Back Initiative is coordinated by the Safe Drug Disposal Program, which is a partnership among local agencies including the Vail Police Department, Avon Police Department, Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Carbondale Police Department, Glenwood Springs Police Department, Vail Health, Eagle County, and Eagle River Water & Sanitation District.
Latest take back day stats:
In October 2021, Americans turned in 372 tons (744,082 pounds) of prescription drugs at 4,982 collection sites set up by the DEA and its 4,276 participating law enforcement and community partners across the nation. In Colorado alone, 52 law enforcement agencies collected 8.1 tons (10,787 pounds) of prescription drugs at 80 sites. The previous twenty DEA-coordinated Take Back events nationwide since 2010 have removed 15,268,473 million pounds (7,634 tons) of prescription medications from circulation (345,692 pounds in Colorado).
Public safety and public health:
This initiative addresses a crucial public safety and public health issue. Unused prescription medications in homes can be accidentally ingested, stolen, misused, and abused. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from the home medicine cabinet. Also, Americans know that outdated methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – pose potential safety and health hazards.
In 2014, new regulations made the disposal of controlled prescription drugs easier for patients and their caregivers. Since then, law enforcement agencies, pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics have begun the continuous collection of these medications.
Year-round disposal sites:
Local law enforcement agencies and DEA licensed “collector sites” offer permanent, year-round, medication take-back receptacles at the following locations during business hours:
Vail Police Department, 75 S. Frontage Rd, Vail, CO 81657
Avon Police Department, 60 Buck Creek Road, Avon, CO 81620
Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, 0885 E. Chambers Ave, Eagle CO 81631
Basalt Police Department, 100 Elk Run Drive, STE 115, Basalt, CO 81621
Glenwood Springs Police Department, 101 W 8th St, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Vail Health Hospital, Vail Pharmacy, 181 W Meadow Drive, Vail, CO 81657
Shaw Center, Edwards Medical Pharmacy, 322 Beard Creek Rd., Edwards, CO 81632
Vail Valley Pharmacy, 105 Edwards Village Blvd, Edwards, CO 81632
Walgreens, 1412 Grand Ave, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601
Each of the above agencies hosts a year-round dropbox as part of the Colorado Household Medication Take Back Program sponsored by the Colorado Consortium for Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention.
Anyone can look for the green, drug disposal drop boxes (pictured) at the Vail Municipal Building, Avon Public Safety Facility, the Eagle County Justice Center main entrance, Basalt Police Department lobby, the Carbondale Police Department in the Town Hall lobby, outside at the Glenwood Springs Police Department, and at both Vail Health pharmacies (Edwards, Vail).
NOTE: The above-mentioned law enforcement agencies and DEA licensed “collector sites” offer drop boxes that can accept unwanted medications – including controlled substances (narcotics) such as codeine, valium, phenobarbital, and others – during regular business hours. The year-round disposal service is free and items may be deposited anonymously with no questions asked.
Other businesses that can accept unwanted medications are The Vail Valley Pharmacy in Edwards and Walgreens in Glenwood Springs. These businesses can also accept unwanted medications, free of charge, during regular business hours but cannot accept controlled substances.
For more information, and to find a drug drop location near you, visit www.takemedsback.org.
For more information contact Amber Barrett Community Affairs 970-328-8512 amber.barrett@eaglecounty.us
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