The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its 18th opportunity in nine years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your pills for disposal on Saturday, October 26th, from 10 a.m. to
2 p.m. to any one of the below-listed collection sites. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last April, the public turned in a record-setting amount of nearly one million pounds-nearly 468 tons of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for disposal at close to 6,300 collection sites all across the country. This brings the total amount of prescription drugs collected by DEA since the fall of 2010 to 11,816,393 pounds or 5,908.2 tons.
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. Also, 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. “Educating the public on the proper disposal of unused medicines has led to over 5,900 tons of prescription drugs being turned in. The success of this program is evident; I believe residents are aware of this every six-month service being provided to them and, they plan for it,” said Sheriff John McMahon.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department will have nine (9) stations participating with the collection of these unused prescription medications. They will be open on Saturday, October 26th, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. and no appointment is necessary. Needles hours of operation will be 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. The participating sites are listed below:
Central Station 909-884-0156
655 East Third Street, San Bernardino
Chino Hills Police Department 909-364-2000
14077 Peyton Drive, Chino Hills
Hesperia Police Department 760-947-1500
15840 Smoketree Street, Hesperia
Highland Police Department 909-425-9793
26985 East Baseline, Highland
Morongo Basin Patrol Station 760-366-4175
63665 29 Palms Hwy, Joshua Tree
Needles Police Department 760-326-9200
1111 Bailey Avenue, Needles
Phelan Substation 760-995-8781
4050 Phelan Road, Phelan
Rancho Cucamonga Police Department 909-477-2800
10510 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga
Victorville Police Department 760-241-2911
14200 Amargosa Road, Victorville
We encourage every citizen to look in their homes for any old, unused prescription medication and bring them to one of the listed collection sites for disposal. For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about the October 26th Take-Back Day event, go to https://www.dea.gov/ and click on DEA National RX Take Back.