ANN ARBOR—Spring cleaning isn’t just for dust and grime—medicine cabinets need it too, especially in the face of a growing epidemic of misused prescription drugs such as opioid painkillers.

This Saturday, April 28, Michigan residents in 16 counties will get a chance to get opioids and other unused and expired prescription medicines out of their medicine cabinets, through 27 simultaneous events.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., hospitals, pharmacies, community organizations and police departments around the state will take unneeded medications back at the locations listed below.

The statewide effort is made possible by local partnerships with the University of Michigan’s Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network. Michigan OPEN has created a free manual to help groups hold community opioid and medication take-back events, and provide a safe process for disposing of unused medications in order to protect communities, children and the environment.

The April 28 medication take-back events will be held at:

• Calhoun County
  Battle Creek: Bronson Battle Creek Hospital, 300 North Ave.
• Clinton County
  Clinton: Village of Clinton Police Department, 322 E. Michigan Ave.
• Genesee County
  Flint: Powers Catholic High School, 1505 W. Court St.
• Jackson County
  Jackson: Center for Family Health, 505 N. Jackson St.
• Kalamazoo County
  Kalamazoo: Bronson Methodist Hospital, 601 John St.
• Keweenaw County
  Eagle River: Keweenaw County Sheriff’s Department, 5105 4th St.
• Lapeer County
  Lapeer: Lapeer Police Station, 2300 W. Genesee St.
• Livingston County
  Pinckney: Pinckney Town Square Park, E. Main St.
• Macomb County
  Roseville: The American House East, 18760 13 Mile Road
  Macomb: Beaumont Medical Center-Macomb, 15979 Hall Road (northeast parking lot)
• Monroe County
  Monroe: Promedica Regional Hospital, 718 N. Macomb St.
• Oakland County
  Royal Oak: Beaumont Hospital Administration Building, 3535 W. 13 Mile Road
  Wixom: Wixom City Hall, 49045 Pontiac Trail
  Commerce Township: Westlake Health Campus, 6000 Walled Lake Villa Dr.
  Pontiac: St. Joseph Mercy Oakland, 44405 Woodward Ave.
• Ottawa County
  Holland: Walgreens, 494 Butternut Dr.
• Saginaw County
  Saginaw: Covenant Healthcare, 700 Cooper St.
• Van Buren County
  South Haven: Shoreline Wellness & Rehab Center, 950 S. Bailey Ave.
  Mattawan: Antwerp Township Activity Center, 24821 Front Ave.
• Washtenaw County
  Ann Arbor: St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School, 2270 E. Stadium Blvd.
  Chelsea: Chelsea Retirement Community, 805 W. Middle St.
  Ypsilanti: West Willow Community Resource Center, 2057 Tyler Road
• Wayne County
  Livonia: New Oakland Family Center, 31500 Schoolcraft Rd.
  Wayne: Beaumont Hospital, 33155 Annapolis St.
  Clinton: Village of Clinton Police Department, 322 E. Michigan Ave.
  Dearborn: Beaumont Hospital, 18101 Oakwood Blvd., Fitzgerald Pavilion entrance
  Flat Rock: Flat Rock Towers Co-op, 28744 Telegraph Road

Also on April 28, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Take Back Initiative includes take-back events at law enforcement locations around the country.

Michigan OPEN also recently partnered with the U-M Injury Prevention Center and the state Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Commission to create prescribing guidelines for physicians and dentists aimed at reducing excess prescribing of opioids in the state.

Facts about prescription drug misuse:

• The U.S. is currently experiencing an epidemic of prescription drug misuse and abuse. Since 1999, overdose deaths involving prescription opioids have quadrupled. Every day, 115 Americans die from an opioid-related overdose—more than the number of people killed in car accidents or by guns.
• Every 10 minutes a child visits the emergency room for medication poisoning, and 12.5 million people age 12 and older misused opioids in the last year. Three in five teens say prescription pain medication is easy to get from their parents’ medicine cabinet.

More information:

• Michigan Opioid Prescribing Engagement Network
• Organizing an Opioid Take Back Event Manual
• U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Take Back Initiative includes take-back events
• Opioid Commission Releases Acute Pain Prescribing Recommendations for Health Professionals