TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Nine hundred pounds. That is the weight of unused medications collected in October 2017 at Travis Air Force Base, California, on National Drug Take Back Day, said Airman 1st Class Elizabeth Wenner, 60th Medical Group pharmacy technician.
This year, David Grant USAF Medical Center will again take part in the campaign to collect expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs to help prevent someone dying from prescriptions obtained–sometimes by theft–from family and friends.
“Items should be taken to the pharmacy in the base exchange mini-mall from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” said Wenner. “Also, both the main hospital pharmacy and the satellite pharmacy in the mini-mall will accept drug turn-ins Monday to Friday.”
Other sites in Solano County, California, will accept drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to the Drug Enforcement Administration website. These include Benicia, Dixon, Rio Vista, Vacaville and Vallejo police departments and the Solano County Sheriff’s Office in Fairfield. The California Department of Public Health will also accept items at the Vacaville Public Library and Cultural Center at 1020 Ulatis Drive.
“The disposal service is free and anonymous with no questions asked,” said Wenner. Donors should seal liquids and creams and remove all personal information from containers. Needles, (sharp objects), asthma inhalers and illicit drugs will not be accepted.
“Locations that will accept sharps all year-round are the Benicia Fire Department, Sutter Fairfield Medical Campus, NorthBay Medical Center emergency department, NorthBay’s VacaValley Hospital and Solano Garbage and Household Hazardous Waste,” said Wenner.
Since 2010, the DEA has collected more than 4,500 tons of prescription drugs. For more disposal guidelines, visit: https://www.dea.gov/take-back/docs/DEA-Unused-Medicine_Disposal-2017-ONLINE.PDF