Twice a year the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office joins law enforcement agencies nationwide to remove potentially dangerous controlled substances from our nation’s medicine cabinets. The Drug Take-Back Day provides an opportunity for the public to surrender expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications for destruction. These drugs are a potential source of supply for illegal use and an unacceptable risk to public health and safety.

National Drug Take-Back

The DEA holds the National Drug Take-Back events in April and October of each year. 

Saturday, April 24, 2021 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

The Sheriff’s Office will accommodate collections at three sites in the county:

Sheriff’s Office Headquarters 
200 Jefferson County Parkway
Golden, CO 80401

Marshdale Elementary School
26663 N Turkey Creek Rd
Evergreen, CO 80439
(In the round-about)

Dakota Ridge High School
13399 W Coal Mine Avenue
Littleton, CO 80127
(In the west parking lot)

Facts About the Event

This one-day effort is intended to bring national focus to the issue of increasing pharmaceutical controlled substance abuse.

• The program is anonymous
• Prescription and over-the-counter solid dosage medications, (tablets and capsules) are accepted
• Intravenous solutions, injectables, needles and oxygen containers will not be accepted
• Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative
• The prescriptions should be removed from the original containers and placed in a plastic bag prior to drop off

Medication Disposal Drop Boxes

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has installed four safe disposal sites for residents to drop off unused or expired household medications. Secure medication drop boxes are now available at the following locations:

• Sheriff’s Office Lobby, 200 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden
• Jail Lobby, 200 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden
• South Precinct, 11139 Bradford Road, Littleton
• Mountain Precinct, 4990 County Highway 73, Evergreen

Drop boxes are the best option for families and individuals to safely dispose of potentially harmful medications. Prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, and vitamins can be disposed of in the drop box. However, Sharps items, chemotherapy medication, and marijuana products may not be disposed of in drop boxes. Healthcare facility waste is also not permitted.

The average American household contains four pounds of prescription and over-the-counter medications. Sheriff Jeff Shrader explains “this excess of medications enables opportunities for misuse and abuse, which can have very serious consequences. If medication is taken incorrectly or by people it was not intended for, it could even lead to death.” 

The Sheriff’s Office obtained its drop boxes through the Colorado Household Medication Take-Back Program, administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment. Medication collected in the boxes is securely packaged and shipped off-site, where it is converted to renewable energy.