Utah State University Extension HEART continues its fight against the opioid epidemic and prescription drug abuse on Saturday, April 26, with its biannual prescription Take Back Day. Dr. Ashley Yaugher from Extension joined the KOAL Newsroom to speak on the event and its benefits for the community.

Take Back Day is just an opportunity to go through your medicine cabinet and get rid of anything in there that you don’t need anymore or don’t want to have in your medicine cabinet,” explained Yaugher.” Opioids are the things that people think of most often when we do these Take Back Day events, but it can also include over-the-counter medications or any kind of prescriptions that can include pill packs, liquids, really anything that you want to get out of your medicine cabinet this spring.”

In addition to the medication drop-off, the event will allow attendees to safely dispose of vaping devices. “If you find a vaping device and you no longer want it, we will dispose of it for you as long as they don’t have batteries in them. If they do, you can still bring them, and we will take them to get them out of your house as well. We’re all about prevention and safety, right? So, we need to get things out of our house that we no longer want or need and keep our family and our loved ones safe.

Traditionally, Take Back Day has had a location in Price and one in Castle Dale. This year, however, the event will add a third location in Green River. All three locations share one similarity: food and swag bags are available for participants while supplies last. “That’s thanks to a collaboration between the Carbon and Emory Opioid and Substance Use Coalition, the One Direction Prevention Coalition and the Green River Prevention Coalition because this is really a group effort,” said Yaugher. “And our amazing law enforcement in both of our counties, our Carbon County Sheriff and our Emery County Sheriff are making all of these possible.”

The true goal of Take Back Day is to get the community involved in the fight against substance use, with Yaugher sharing,” Even if you don’t have medications to return, come out, say hello to us. We appreciate getting a chance to talk with everyone in our community.”

Discussing the importance of Take Back Day, Yaugher stated,” It’s important to remind people to go through their medicine cabinets and to get things out, right? Because our counties, for a long time, have been hit so hard by having more prescriptions and more people who are using substances. And then, unfortunately, we have a high rate of overdose deaths. So if we can prevent people from using substances or using prescriptions that are not prescribed to them, we can help prevent future substance use disorders, as well as future loss of life.”

USU Extension HEART’s Take Back Day will be held on Saturday, April 26 from noon to 2 p.m. Locations are available in Price at the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, Castle Dale in the Stewarts parking lot and in Green River at O.K. Anderson Park. More information is available online on Facebook.