Gov. Tom Wolf Tuesday announced that April 29 is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in Pennsylvania.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, the Pennsylvania State Police, and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public its 13th opportunity in seven years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

“Drug Take-Back Day addresses a vital public safety and public health issue and I encourage all Pennsylvanians to check their homes for unwanted and unneeded drugs that they could turn in at a drug take-back box,” Gov. Wolf said.

Pennsylvania now has 584 take-back locations in its 67 counties, making it convenient for people to find a location near them.

The Wolf Administration has worked to expand take-back locations to include more local police departments and pharmacies. Also included are some fire stations and DEA offices. Click Here for a map of locations. The take-back service is free and anonymous.

Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse and studies show that most abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets.

“Pennsylvania has an opioid epidemic; one in four families is affected,” said Jennifer Smith, acting secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs. “National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is a great way to encourage people to get opioids and other unused medications out of circulation, and to bring attention to this crisis.

“We lose far too many people to opioid overdoses,” said Smith. “These people are mothers, fathers, daughters and sons. They leave behind grieving families.”

The number of opioid overdose deaths in 2016 is expected to be higher than 2015 when 3,500 people died from overdoses.

“The National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is an important part of the effort to combat the opioid crisis,” said Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Tyree C. Blocker. “Allowing for the safe, anonymous disposal of prescription drugs helps to ensure that powerful narcotics and other medications do not end up in the wrong hands.”

In 2016 across Pennsylvania, 124,335 pounds, or almost 62 tons of unwanted prescription drugs were collected and destroyed by the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics Investigation, the Pennsylvania National Guard, and the DEA.

Last October, during its fall National Drug Take-Back Day, the DEA and its partners collected more than 893,498 pounds (about 447 tons) of unwanted prescription drugs at almost 5,400 collection sites.

Since January, Pennsylvania has collected approximately 20,000 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs.

To find a drop-off location for the disposal of prescription drugs or for more information, visit:

-- Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs website; or

-- PA State Police website; or

-- Drug Enforcement Agency website.

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