Event of the Day: Prescription Drug Take-Back

This weekend, let spring cleaning come to your medicine cabinet.

More than 5,000 sites nationwide, include one in Rancho Bernardo, will be collecting expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to keep the potentially dangerous pills from getting into the wrong hands.

Earlier this week, Twin Peaks Middle School with the the San Diego County Sheriff's Department about the dangers of prescription drug abuse by children and teens.

This will be the second National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day hosted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Last year, 121 tons—242,000 pounds—of prescription drugs were collected at more than 4,000 sites.

“The overwhelming public response to DEA's first nationwide Take-Back event last fall not only rid homes of potentially harmful prescription drugs, but was an unprecedented opportunity to educate everyone about the growing prescription drug abuse problem," DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said. “Studies have shown that, for many, prescription drugs are the very first drugs they abuse—and all too often they aren’t the last. That is why we are committed to helping Americans keep their homes safe by ridding their medicine cabinets of expired, unused, and unwanted drugs.”

A list of nearby dropoff locations is below or you can search by ZIP code or address here.

Dropoff Locations