DEA Drug Take Back Day: Safely Dispose of Medications

ZANESVILLE, OH – This Saturday is your chance to safely dispose of any old or expired medications you have at home.

The DEA’s Drug Take Back Day is happening on Saturday, October 26th from 10 AM to 2 PM. The Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office and the Zanesville Police Department will be collecting prescription medications at multiple locations. You can drive through and drop them off at Sam’s Club, Kroger, the Muskingum County Health Department and Riesbeck’s on June Parkway.

“We are open to taking any prescription narcotics that someone’s in possession of that need disposed of. Individuals are being encouraged to remove identifying labels from bottles. They can also come and submit just the pills themselves and the containers. We will be accepting various things such as liquids as long as they’re sealed in their container. We will not be accepting any kind of biohazard or syringes, or sharps container type items. New this year, we will be accepting the e-cigarettes or vaping devices,” Zanesville Police Chief Scott Comstock said.

If you have sharps or needles, the only location accepting them is the Muskingum County Health Department. If you’re disposing of e-cigarettes or vaping devices, the batteries must be removed before drop-off. Drug Take Back Day is a safe and easy way to clean out your medicine cabinets and ensure that expired or unused medications and devices don’t pose a risk to others or the environment.

“We don’t want to put these out into the environment. We don’t want to put them down in the septic systems. You never know where that stuff is going to come out at. This is a great way to get this out of your medicine cabinet and to get it off the street,” Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

The Muskingum County Jail also has a medication drop-off box available year-round for safe disposal of your unused prescriptions.