Securely dispose of unused medications at select VCU Health Pharmacies and a VCU community event on April 26
VCU Health and VCU are participating in Take Back Day, a national effort to combat opioid addiction and medication misuse.
April 24, 2025
The event helps prevent medication misuse and opioid addiction by encouraging the public to remove expired and unused medication from their homes. (Getty Images)
By Jimmy O’Keefe
Do you have expired or unused medication at home? VCU Health and Virginia Commonwealth University are participating in an upcoming national campaign to help properly dispose of them at multiple locations in the Richmond area.
VCU Health pharmacies are taking part in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) Take Back Day on Saturday, April 26, with select pharmacy locations providing an opportunity to safely and securely dispose of medications no longer needed.
DEA Take Back Day helps prevent medication misuse and opioid addiction by encouraging the public to remove expired and unused medication from their homes. On the last Take Back Day in October 2024, the DEA collected 629,953 pounds (314 tons) of properly-disposed medication from 4,644 collection sites across the country
Self-serve take back boxes are available at participating VCU Health pharmacies. Though DEA Take Back Day is set for April 26, these take back boxes are available year-round and include detailed instructions for properly disposing medication. Once the disposed medication has been placed in the take back box, it will be secured and accessible only to pharmacy staff.
The following VCU Health pharmacies have self-serve take back boxes available:
VCU Medical Center Gateway Building, 1st Floor Lobby (1200 E Marshall St, Richmond, VA 23219)
Ambulatory Care Center Pharmacy, 1st Floor (417 N. 11th St., Richmond, VA 23298)
(804) 828-8329; (Mon-Fri, 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Sat, Sun and Holidays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.)
Children's Hospital of Richmond (CHoR), Ground Floor (1000 E. Broad St., Richmond, VA 23219)
(804) 828-6293; (Mon-Fri, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)
Short Pump Pavilion, 2nd Floor (11958 W. Broad St., Henrico, VA 23233)
(804) 828-9977; (Mon-Fri 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.)
South Richmond Pharmacy at Hayes E. Willis Health Center
(4730 Southside Plaza, Richmond, VA 23224)
(804) 828-8641; (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
Stony Point Pharmacy (9000 Stony Point Parkway, Richmond, VA 23235)
(804) 828-8659 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)
VCU School of Pharmacy, VCU Police partnering for Take Back Day community event
VCU Police and students with VCU School of Pharmacy invite members of the public to bring their unused and unwanted medications to their DEA Take Back Day community event from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, outside the University Student Commons (907 Floyd Ave.). VCU Police officers will be on hand to collect unused and unwanted medications as part of the event.
Students in VCU’s new B.S. in pharmaceutical sciences program – in collaboration with VCU School of the Arts, VCU’s Humanity First Student Organization and VCU RecWell – will also provide coffee and educate the community on naloxone and safe alcohol practices.
