University Pharmacy’s Drug Take Back Day

The University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy will host its semiannual Drug Take Back Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 21 in Nordenberg Hall’s University Pharmacy. Pitt student pharmacists and Pitt Police volunteers will collect old, expired, and unused medicine from the community.

Volunteers will also distribute information about the importance of safe drug disposal methods. “When people leave old medicine in cabinets or throw pill bottles in the trash, it can get into the wrong hands,” said Justin Saver, student organizer of the event and co-chair of Generation Rx, part of the American Pharmacists Association and the Academy of Student Pharmacists. Saver also emphasized the importance of not dumping medicine down the toilet: “it gets into the water supply. It’s unsettling to do tests and see traces of antibiotics and steroids in what we drink.”

Donations are completely anonymous and all medicine and pill bottles will be incinerated and destroyed.

Pitt’s Drug Take Back Day has collected a total of 817 pounds of medicine since March 2015. This week’s Drug Take Back Day goal is 250 pounds.

This event is sponsored by the School of Pharmacy, the University Pharmacy, the Office of Student Affairs, Pitt Police, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, and others.

More information is available at www.pharmacy.pitt.edu