DEA Drug Take Back Day Is Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026: Hours, How to Find a Site and What You Can Drop Off

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) holds its 31st National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 4,400 collection sites, run with more than 4,300 law enforcement partners, will take unused and expired prescription medicines for free, the agency said in its Oct. 16 announcement. The goal is to get pills out of home medicine cabinets, where they can be misused, stolen or taken by mistake. Below: what to bring, how to find a site, how much past events collected, and what to do if you cannot go on Saturday.

When and where: Saturday, Oct. 24

Collection runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at each participating site. Most sites are set up by police and sheriff’s departments, often at a station, a pharmacy or a community parking lot. Sites differ from year to year, so do not rely on a location you used before: look it up again for this event.

What you can drop off, and what you can’t

Accepted	Not accepted
Tablets and capsules	Syringes and other sharps
Patches	Illicit drugs
Other forms of prescription medication
Liquid medicines, securely sealed in their original containers

The list comes from the DEA’s announcement for this event. Vaping devices are not on it. In past years the DEA accepted vapes and e-cigarettes only with their lithium-ion batteries removed, and not every site took them, so call ahead before you bring one. For needles, ask your pharmacy or local health department about a sharps disposal program.

How to find a collection site

Use the DEA’s Take Back Day page at dea.gov/takebackday, which has a search for the sites taking part on Oct. 24. Search by ZIP code or by city and state, then check the address and any local notes before you leave. If nothing is close, a year-round option below may be easier.

What past events collected

The 30th Take Back Day, on April 25, 2026, collected 642,410 pounds of medicines at 4,417 sites with 4,306 participating agencies, the DEA reported in May. Since the program started in 2010, it has collected 21,034,225 pounds, or more than 10,500 tons.

Can’t make it Saturday? Year-round options

• Pharmacy kiosks and other authorized collectors. Many pharmacies, hospitals and police stations are registered with the DEA to collect medicines every day. The DEA Diversion Control Division keeps a search of year-round disposal locations.
• Household trash. When no take-back option is nearby, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says to take medicines out of their original containers and mix them with something unappealing, such as used coffee grounds, dirt or cat litter. Seal the mix in a bag or container, put it in your household trash, and scratch out your personal information on the empty packaging.
• Flushing. Only medicines on the FDA’s flush list should be flushed, and only when a take-back option is not readily available. Do not flush anything else.

Clean out your medicine cabinet

Our free checklist lists what to bring on Saturday and what to leave home, has an inventory table for the medicines in your cabinet, and repeats the year-round options for later. Mark Saturday on our October 2026 printable calendar or a weekly planner. Saturday, Oct. 24, is busy: it is also the first day of early voting in Michigan and New York and the night of World Series Game 2; see the World Series 2026 schedule. Other deadlines this season, such as Medicare open enrollment, are in November 2026 important dates.