HONOLULU, HI – The Hawai?i Department of Attorney General is partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Hawai?i Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Enforcement Division, and other law enforcement agencies to coordinate prescription drug take-back events on April 22, 2023, which is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

Anyone with expired or unused prescription medications is encouraged to bring their medications to the collection sites located on O?ahu, Maui, Kaua?i, and Hawai?i island on:

10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

A list of designated collection sites is attached, or you can visit www.dea.gov/takebackday or www.ag.hawaii.gov to learn more.

National Take Back Initiatives (NTBIs) are conducted twice a year and are free and anonymous services to the public – no questions asked. Tablets, capsules, liquids, and other forms of medication will be accepted. Everything can be kept in its original container. No labels need to be removed. Vaping devices will be accepted, but batteries must be removed. New or used syringes will not be accepted.

“Hawai‘i is not immune from the dangers of the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs,” says Valerie S. Mariano, the Hawai?i Department of the Attorney General’s Chief of Community & Crime Prevention Branch. “The National Take Back Initiative is a way to safely and anonymously dispose of your prescription medications. Let’s work together to keep our homes and communities safe.”

“We urge the public to use this National Take Back Initiative to dispose of unwanted medications safety and securely,” says Jared Redulla, Administrator, Narcotics Enforcement Division, Department of Public Safety. It is the responsible thing to do to protect your ?ohana and community from drug misuse, accidental poisoning, and overdoes.”

“The National Take Back Initiative began as a way for potentially dangerous medications to be properly disposed of in order to help keep our ?ohana as well as our environment safe,” says Victor Vazquez, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Honolulu District Office. Please join DEA and our partners in Hawai?i on April 22 in ridding our communities of any unused, unneeded, or expired medications you may have.”

Unused or expired medicine should be properly disposed of when no longer needed for which it was prescribed.

    Medicines may lose their effectiveness after the expiration date.

    Improper use of prescription drugs can be as dangerous as illegal drug use.

    Having unused or expired medicine in your home increases the risk of accidental poisoning. Homes where children or the elderly live are especially vulnerable to this danger.

    People may mistake one type of medicine for another, or children may mistake medicine for candy.

Medicine should not be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet. Proper disposal reduces the risk of prescription drugs entering the human water supply or potentially harming aquatic life.