Hawai‘i Attorney General schedules Drug Take Back Day events

The Hawaiʻi Department of Attorney General is partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Hawaiʻi Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Enforcement Division and other law enforcement agencies to coordinate prescription drug take-back events on Saturday, April 22, which is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.

Anyone with expired or unused prescription medications is encouraged to bring their medications to collection sites located on Oʻahu, Maui, Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi Island from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 22.

On Kaua‘i, a drug take-back site will be located at the Kaua‘i Police Department parking lot in Līhu‘e. For more location information, visit Dea.gov or Ag.hawaii.gov.

National Take Back Initiatives 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,” said Valerie S. Mariano, the Hawaiʻi 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.”

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.

If you are unable to participate in the National Take Back Initiative, a list of drug take back drop box locations is available at hawaiiopioid.org.