OKC To Host Drug Collection Sites On National Drug Take Back Day

Saturday is national prescription drug take back day.

The day focuses on getting potentially harmful drugs out of your home.

Since 2011 around 180,000 pounds have been collected in Oklahoma. It is something that just takes a little bit of thought and time but could save a life.

Mark Woodward, spokesman Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics says, “Well, unfortunately, we have seen some tragic outcomes of people overdosing and dying from medication like opioids and when you do an investigation you find that they stole them out of the medicine cabinet of a purse and oftentimes the relative will say I forgot I even had those.”

Woodward knows it is something many of us don't think about.

“All of us may get a prescription and only use a small part of it and have pills leftover. And sometimes you forget about those and leave them in the cabinet,” says Woodward.

There are several drop-off locations in the Oklahoma City metro area hosting events.

You can drop off your bagged prescription drugs anytime between 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday at the Homeland near West Britton Road and North May Avenue. There are also 184 drug disposal boxes in the lobbies of law enforcement offices across the state.

This event is also good for the environment. All the drugs collected at locations across the metro Saturday are converted into clean energy by Covanta.

"So it’s really a win-win to keep those drugs out of the landfills and out of the water systems we don’t want people throwing them away, so we made it simple," says Woodward.

If you can’t drop off your prescription drugs Friday you can dispose of them any other time at one of the drop-off locations.

Click here for a list of drop-off locations.