Hernando drug take-back event offers safe disposal and free Narcan kits

Unused prescriptions sitting in a bathroom cabinet can turn into a theft risk, an accidental poisoning risk for children, or a pathway to opioid misuse. Hernando County residents will have a chance to clear those drugs out on June 20, when Tampa General Hospital, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office and the Hernando Community Coalition host a prescription drug take-back event from 9 a.m. to noon at TGH Brooksville and TGH Spring Hill.

Deputy Ashley May said the goal is to keep expired or no-longer-needed medications out of homes instead of tossing them in the trash or flushing them into the environment. The event will be drive-up and drop-off only, with no questions asked and no special packaging required, even if the pills are brought in a grocery bag. Participants will also receive free Narcan kits, adding an overdose-prevention step to the disposal effort.

Eric Foust, director of community and EMS outreach for TGH Brooksville and Spring Hill, said the point is convenience as much as prevention. The easier it is to remove hazardous drugs from a home, the less chance they have to be misused, shared, stolen or forgotten in a drawer after a surgery or illness has passed.

Residents can bring prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, supplements and pet medications. Needles, sharps, liquids and aerosols are not accepted, because the collected material will be incinerated and those items require different handling. The event is being presented as the first TGH-hosted collaboration of its kind with the sheriff’s office and coalition, linking health care and law enforcement around diversion prevention, overdose risk and environmental protection.

The local message is reinforced by other county disposal options already in place. The Hernando County Sheriff’s Office maintains permanent medication drop boxes at its main office in Brooksville, the District 2 office in Spring Hill and the Hernando County Detention Center, and those boxes accept unwanted, unused and expired prescription, over-the-counter and veterinarian prescription medications. Florida Department of Health materials also identify an Unwanted Medication Disposal Program at county solid-waste locations, where medication is dissolved in a secured bin and disposed of without entering the water supply.

State data show why the effort still matters. Florida Department of Health overdose surveillance says drug-related deaths in Florida fell 14% from 2023 to 2024, while opioid-related deaths fell 26% over the same period. Even so, FLHealthCHARTS says deaths from drug poisoning remain the leading cause of injury death in Florida, and it notes that naloxone can reverse fatal opioid overdoses.