Trinidad police host drug take-back day for safe medicine disposal

Trinidad police offered residents a practical way to clean out medicine cabinets and reduce the risk that unused pills would become a problem at home. The local take-back effort came as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration prepared for its 30th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The DEA said the campaign will include nearly 4,200 collection locations nationwide and is intended to give people a safe, convenient and responsible way to dispose of prescription drugs. That message carries extra weight in Las Animas County, where state opioid-profile data identifies the area as part of rural southern Colorado counties with elevated overdose death rates.

Colorado already runs a year-round disposal network through the Colorado Household Medication and Sharps Takeback program. The state health department says collection receptacles are available at participating law enforcement agencies, pharmacies and clinics, and Colorado public-health guidance says unused or expired medications can be returned throughout the year at Takeback locations.

That year-round option matters because old medications are more than clutter. Left in a bathroom cabinet, they can be taken by the wrong person, used for misuse, or accidentally ingested by a child or pet. Tossed in the trash or flushed down a drain, they can also create environmental contamination. For families in Trinidad and across Las Animas County, the simplest fix is often the safest one: clear out the bottles and turn them in through a secure collection program.

Trinidad police were part of that prevention effort, tying a local collection day to a national public-safety campaign. A previous Trinidad Chronicle-News social post for an earlier event listed 160 E. First St. as the collection site, underscoring the kind of neighborhood-level access that makes take-back days work. The broader goal remains the same in Trinidad and across Colorado: keep unused medicine out of the wrong hands and out of the home.