CHICAGO — The American Medical Association (AMA) is strongly supporting National Prescription Drug Take Back Day and urges patients across the country to participate on Saturday, April 28. The AMA urges anyone who has unused, unwanted, and expired prescription medications to drop them off at one of the thousands of drop-off sites. The Drug Enforcement Administration website and Google have locators for the closest sites to where patients live. Last year, the DEA reported that 456 tons of prescriptions were turned in.

The AMA is also reminding physicians of the recommendations developed by the AMA Opioid Task Force to help them educate their patients on the safe use, storage, and disposal of prescription opioids. These recommendations are part of the task force’s ongoing efforts to empower and enable physicians to take steps that can help reverse the nation’s opioid epidemic. More information can be found at www.end-opioid-epidemic.org/storage-and-disposal.

“From our studies of the opioid epidemic, we know that more than 70 percent of people misusing opioids are getting them from family and friends. We need to prevent this, and the best way is for patients to turn in unused opioids as well as all their unused prescription medications,” said Patrice A. Harris, MD, MA, chair of the Opioid Task Force. “We encourage physicians to talk to their patients about what is in their medicine chests, and talk about steps they can take to reduce the likelihood of prescription drug misuse.”