Taking Back Our Communities
Supporting our local communities in the fight against the opioid epidemic.
Piedmont Take Back Day
At Piedmont, we promise to make a positive difference in every life we touch. And as a healthcare provider, we have an important role in combating the opioid epidemic. In addition to supporting the appropriate use of opioids, Piedmont is partnering with local agencies to promote National Take Back Day – a day designated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to help educate and promote safe, convenient and effective methods for disposing of prescription drugs.
This month, we are offering drop-off locations at several of our hospitals. Learn more about community Take Back Days and drop off locations near you.
24/7/365 DROP-OFF LOCATIONS
If you need to drop off prescription medications, find a year-round drop off site in your area.
THE FACTS
Many people are unsure what qualifies as an opioid. You may be surprised
to find common opioids in your medicine cabinet. Common opioids include:
Codeine
Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Hycodan)
Morphine (MS Contin, Kadian)
Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percoset)
Hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
Fentanyl (Duragesic)
Every day, 46 people die from an overdose of prescription painkillers in the U.S.
(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Of patients who are prescribed opioids for chronic pain, 20-30% will misuse them.
(Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse)
About 80% of people who use heroin first misused prescription opioids.
(Source: Natonal Institute on Drug Abuse)
WHY PARTICIPATE
More than 22,000 Piedmont employees serve nearly 2 million patients each year. Our goal is to help all of our employees, patients and their families understand the risk of opioid addiction and what they can do to prevent it. We can make a significant impact in curb in opioid-related addiction and deaths in Georgia. You can help by removing excess prescription medications from your home and disposing of them safely.
GET INVOLVED
ATHENS
DATE & TIME: April 27th | 10am - 2pm
Other kiosks available:
ATLANTA
DATE: April 27th
3740 Cascade Road SW
3800 Princeton Lakes Pkwy SW
Other Atlanta kiosks available:
895 Ralph Abernathy Blvd. SW (CVS)
2830 N. Druid Hills Road, NE (CVS)
Carecenter Pharmacy: 1 Coca Cola Plz. NW
COLUMBUS
DATE: April 25 | 11:30am-6:30pm
Other kiosks available:
3617 Hilton Ave, Columbus, GA 31904
FAYETTE
DATE & TIME: April 27th | 10am - 2pm
Other kiosks available:
HENRY
DATE: April 27th
Other kiosks available:
MOUNTAINSIDE
DATE & TIME: April 27th | 7am - 11am
Location: Chattahoochee TechNEWNAN
DATE & TIME: April 27th | 10am - 2pm
Other kiosks available:
1665 Hwy 34 E, Newnan, GA 30265
NEWTON
DATE & TIME: April 27th
ROCKDALE
DATE & TIME: TBD
Other kiosks available:
1541 Georgia Highway 20, Conyers, GA 30012 (CVS)
WALTON
DATE & TIME: April 27th | 10am - 2pm
Other kiosks available:
SPREAD THE WORD
With your help, we can raise awareness around the opioid epidemic and encourage participation in our communities. By sharing information about Take Back Day with your loved ones, you’ll be helping to promote safe and effective methods of disposing prescription medications in our local area.
You can also share the site with your family and friends via email.
FAQ
For more than two decades, the addictive nature of opioids has been underestimated. This has led to overprescribing and a general lack of awareness of the harmful consequences of excess availability. What began as an epidemic with prescription opioids has spread to include an increase in deaths from heroin and synthetic opioids.
According to the CDC, about 130 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. There were 47,600 deaths in 2017 in the U.S. involving opioids, which is up 6x from 1999. In 2016, 929 in Georgians died.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm675152e1.htm)
It is estimated that one-third of patients have a predisposition to become addicted to opioids, a fact that was ignored when opioids first came on the scene and has been highly underestimated even in the past 10 years.
As a response to the opioid epidemic in the U.S., Piedmont Healthcare President and CEO Kevin Brown in June convened a task force to review how our health system should address this damaging public health crisis.
- Help providers adhere to safe prescribing guidelines.
- Prevent diversion in our workplaces.
- Equip patients with education when prescribed opioids.
- Help connect addicted patients to treatment resources.
- Partner with other community resources in in local initiatives to combat opioid addiction.
- Educate our communities on and facilitate the safe disposal of prescription medications.
- Treat addiction as a medical condition and work to reduce the stigma of addiction.
National Take Back Day is a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) designated day to help educate and promote safe, convenient and effective methods for disposing of prescription drugs as well as the dangers associated with drug abuse.
Across our state and in most of our communities, there are locations where community members can safely dispose of unused or unwanted prescription drugs. Piedmont is encouraging employees as well as the community to clean out their medication cabinets and dispose of these unnecessary medications – safely and anonymously.
No. In most cases, kiosks are available 24/7. National Take Back Day is about bringing awareness to the need of disposing medications properly.