DEA to Hold National Take-Back Initiative

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will hold its 16th annual National Take-Back Initiative (NTBI). The DEA will have collection sites for the public to leave their expired or unused prescription medications.

The Hawaiʻi Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Public Safety Narcotics Enforcement Division (NED) is working with the DEA to host a prescription drug take‐back event on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will have various collection points on Maui, Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Hilo and Kona on the Big Island.

The event on Maui will be held at the Maui Police Department parking lot, 5 Mahalani St. in Wailuku.

This service is free and anonymous with no questions asked. Tablets, capsules, liquids, and other forms of medication will be accepted. New or used needles and syringes will not be accepted.

“The National Take-Back is a safe way to dispose of unneeded prescription medications so that they don’t cause harm to people or pollute the environment,” Attorney General Russell Suzuki said.

This is the ninth year that the State of Hawaiʻi has hosted a take-back event. The previous 15 take-back events in Hawaiʻi collected and disposed of a total of nearly 41,500 pounds of pharmaceuticals from September 2010 to April of this year. These take‐backs have collected a total of 5,000 tons of pharmaceuticals nationwide since the fall of 2010.

“The Department of Public Safety encourages everyone to support the National Take‐Back Initiative by disposing of their unneeded medications at one of the many convenient take back locations across the state,” NED Administrator Jared Redulla said.

According to the Department of the Attorney General, unused or expired medicine should be disposed of properly when it is no longer needed for the illness that it was prescribed for. Medicines may lose their effectiveness after the expiration date and using prescription drugs improperly can be as dangerous as illegal drug use.

Having unused or expired medicine in your home increases the risk of accidental poisoning. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to this danger, as people may mistake one type of medicine for another type and children may mistake medicine for candy.

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

“DEA looks forward to another National Take-Back in Hawaiʻi on Oct. 27. We would like to thank our long-standing partners across the state in these important lifesaving efforts,” said John Callery, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, US DEA, Honolulu District Office.

Other Hawaiʻi take-back drop off locations are listed below:

Oʻahu

• Hawaiʻi State Capitol, Beretania Street drive-thru
• Hickam Commissary, front entrance
• Kahala Mall, inside of the mall, near the Kilauea Avenue entrance
• Kapolei Police Station parking lot
• Marine Corps Exchange (MCX), front of Exchange
• Pearl City police station parking lot
• Pearl Harbor Naval Exchange (NEX), exchange
• Schofield Barracks Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) Post Exchange (PX), inside, near flower shop
• Town Center of Mililani, Meheula Parkway side of mall
• Windward Mall, inside of mall, near food court

Hawaiʻi Island

• Ka Waena Lapaʻau Medical Complex, upper parking lot at the corner of Ponahawai Street and Komohana Street
• Hawaiʻi Police Department, Kona police station parking lot

Kauaʻi

• Kauaʻi Police Department parking lot

A flyer with a list of the take-back drop off locations throughout Hawaiʻi can be found online. More information on the take-back initiative can be found on the DEA website or the Department of the Attorney General website. 

Those who are unable to participate in the take-back event can find other anonymous drop off locations online. 

More information can also be found by contacting Special Assistant to the Attorney General James W. Walther at (808) 586-1284, or James.W.Walther@hawaii.gov.           

Anyone looking for additional information can also contact the Branch Chief of the Community and Crime Prevention Branch Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division Valerie Mariano at (808) 586-1444, or Valerie.S.Mariano@hawaii.gov. 

Public Information Officer Toni Schwartz of the US Drug Enforcement Administration – Hawaiʻi District Office can also be contacted for more information at (808) 541-1930 or Toni.E.Schwartz@hawaii.gov.   

The Department of Public Safety may also be contacted at (808) 587-1358.