Drug Enforcement Administration and the Corpus Christi Police Department
Conduct Third Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

“Living Drug Free Starts at Home”

On April 28th,  from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.  local law enforcement agencies  and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Bring your medications for disposal to one of the designated sites in Corpus Christi, Kingsville, Aransas Pass, Portland, Cuero and Sinton.  The service is free and anonymous. 

Last October, Americans turned in 377,080 pounds—188.5 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,300 sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement partners. (The Gulf Coast area collected almost 1000 pounds.) In its three previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in almost a million pounds—nearly 500 tons—of pills. 

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue.  Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. 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 are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

Four days after the first event, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long-term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.  DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months.  Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.

Coastal Bend Collection Sites are listed below:     

• KIII TV~5002 South Padre Island Drive, Corpus Christi
• HEB~3500 Leopard, Corpus Christi
• HEB~3033 S. Port Avenue, Corpus Christi
• HEB~5313 Saratoga Boulevard, Corpus Christi
• HEB(Flour Bluff)~1145 Waldron Road, Corpus Christi
• HEB(Annaville)~11100 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi
• HEB~1600 Wildcat Boulevard, Portland
• HEB~409 E. Kleberg, Kingsville
• HEB(Aransas Pass)~101 E. Goodnight Avenue, Aransas Pass
• HEB(Sinton)~106 S. San Patricio, Sinton
• Cuero City Hall~201 E. Main Street, Cuero