National Prescription Drug Take-back Day: Lynnfield's Collection Location

LYNNFIELD, MA—National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is Saturday, and residents across the country will have the opportunity to dump old prescription drugs from their medicine cabinets.

The nationwide event helps to address the major public health crisis of prescription drug addiction. The opioid epidemic has taken center stage not only in Massachusetts but Middlesex County as well, and National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day hopes to address that problem and help residents safely dispose of old prescription drugs.

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, many abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

“Prescription drug abuse is a huge problem and this is a great opportunity for folks around the country to help reduce the threat,” DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said in a press release. "Please clean out your medicine cabinet and make your home safe from drug theft and abuse.”

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's most recent data which accounts for opioid-related overdose deaths from Jan. 2012 to Dec. 2014, there has been one opioid-related overdose deaths in Lynnfield during that time span. Comparatively, Lynnfield has been largely been spared compared to nearby Lynn, which saw 38 deaths in 2014 and Saugus which saw nine deaths in 2012.

Take Back Day will occur Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2 p.m. at collection sites across the country. The Woburn Police Department is holding a collection at the police department located at 25 Harrison Ave.

Click here to find a location closest to you.