El Pasoans encouraged to dispose of unused medicine on National Drug Take Back Day

EL PASO, Texas -- The Drug Enforcement Administration held its 20th annual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day to encourage people to bring back their unwanted and unused prescription medications.

This year, 87,200 Americans died from an overdose, according to the CDC, the most in one year. Now the DEA is discovering that kids are experimenting more with drugs after being forced to stay inside during the pandemic.

“But we also saw that our young people, people under 18 years of age started experimenting with drugs for the first time,” Carlos Briano, a DEA spokesman said.

With kids experimenting with the medication in their family member's drug cabinet, Briano is worried that those kids will start experimenting with more dangerous drugs.

“We’ve seen across the nation that the majority of the opioid addiction started started with a medicine cold cabinet medication," Briano explained.

The DEA set up sites all around the nation for people to discreetly drop off their unused medication.

If you missed the event Saturday, you can still drop off your medication any other day of the year. This website shows you locations of where you can drop off your unwanted medication.