On Saturday, October 29, the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other partners organized National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in DC. DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day encourages the public to remove unneeded medications from their homes to prevent medication misuse. DBH established a partnership earlier this year with MPD and the DEA to provide additional support to this biannual event. Our partnership has expanded the reach of the event in the community with help from our grantees and partners. We were able to collect hundreds of pounds of unused medications across 12 sites. More details on the DEA website linked here.
Special thanks to our Prevention Centers and Faith-Based Grantees, who helped staff the sites and distributed prevention resources and naloxone to community members. See photos from the event here: Drug Take Back Day - October 2022.
In addition to the sites on Saturday, our university partners at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), American University, Gallaudet University and Howard University also participated on the Federal National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, October 26.
Lastly, mark your calendars! The next Drug Take Back Day will be in April. Exact date TBC. Reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions or would like to get involved.