New! Medication Take-Back Station

Five healthcare workers in navy scrubs stand and sit around a green medication disposal box, smiling at the camera inside a facility.

Located on the First Floor in the Physician Clinic Waiting Room. Take back hours are:

Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 12 noon.

Please use your medications safely:

  • Use medications only as directed
  • Ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice
  • Only take medications prescribed to you
  • Don’t share with others!

Learn how to store your medications safely:

  • Monitor your medications
  • The medicine cabinet may be the worst place to keep them
  • Lock-up them up!
  • Ask visitors to keep their medications out of site or provide them a locked storage location
  • Ask relatives to secure their medications before your children visit them
  • Teens say prescription drugs are easier to get than beer
  • Generally, Colorado teens believe prescription drugs are safer to use than street drugs because they are prescribed by a doctor
  • Pain medications rank third among substances causing fatal poisonings of children under 6 years old
  • Nearly 50% of all pet poisonings involve human drugs

The far reaching impact of unused drugs:

  • 40% of medications dispensed outside of hospitals may be wasted. Reasons drugs go unused:
    • Ineffective
    • Undesirable side effects
    • Change in treatment
    • Symptoms Improve
    • Patient death
    • Over-prescribing
    • Over-packaging
  • Unused drugs spend too much time in the home
    • 50% – 1-5 years
    • 25% – 1-12 months
    • 19% – 5-10 years
    • 5% – less than 10 years
  • Unused drugs in the home contribute to opioid abuse.
    • 55% obtained free drugs from a friend or relative
    • 3% were prescribed by one doctor
    • 4% bought from a friend or relative
    • 8% took from friend or relative without asking
    • 4% got from a drug dealer or stranger

How do you dispose of medication properly?

  • Bring unused medication to the Take-Back Station at Estes Park Health, 555 Prospect Ave, Estes Park, CO 80517, 1st floor near Physician Clinic waiting room.
  • If you have no other choice to dispose of medication:
    • Remove medication from packaging and destroy labels to protect privacy.
    • Mix medicine with something that can’t be eaten – kitty litter or coffee grounds – to prevent accidental or intentional misuse of medication by another person or animal.
    • Wrap mixture in another material – newspaper or paper bag – or place medicine mixture in a sealable container – can, jar, plastic bag.
    • Throw into the trash on trash day, don’t let medication sit in your trash unsupervised.
  • Do not do the following with your unused medication:
    • Flush them down the toilet – this takes medication into water supplies and treatment plants are not designed to remove medications.
    • Put them in the trash, without following the steps above. Animals and people can be poisoned.

 The following items can be accepted in the Take-Back Station:

  • Prescription medications, including prescribed controlled substances (DEA Schedule II-V)
  • Over-the-counter medications
  • Liquid medications (small amounts in original, non-leaking containers)
  • Medication patches (Used Fentanyl and Duragesic patches are extremely hazardous. They may be folded in half, sticky side together and flushed down the toilet.)
  • Medication samples
  • Medicated ointments
  • Vitamins
  • Pet medications
  • Unused drug injection cartridges – unused EpiPens and insulin pens. (Must be unused with needle still protected inside.)
  • Unused inhaler canisters – Advair, Spiriva, ProAir, Ventolin. (Must be unused, empty canisters or unneeded plastic holders/mouth pieces.)

These items CANNOT be accepted in the Take-Back Station:

  • Marijuana
  • Illicit drugs (DEA Schedule I drugs like heroin, LSD, etc.)
  • Needles, syringes and other sharps. Sharps must be taken to the Emergency Department.
  • Chemotherapy drugs
  • Medical tools and supplies
  • Bloody or infectious waste
  • Personal care products
  • Thermometers
  • Empty containers
  • Medication waste generated by health care facilities, including nursing homes

     For more questions visit:

  • takemedsback.org
  • takemedsseriously.org