More than 200 pounds of medications were collected at the end of last month during the “Crush the Crisis” national opioid take back day at Regional Medical Center in San Jose, hospital officials said.

Members of the San Jose Police Department collect unwanted prescription drugs at Regional Medical Center during the national “Crush the Crisis” event on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Regional Medical Center/Facebook)

The Oct. 29 event aligned with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which aims to raise awareness about the danger of misusing opioids and the safe disposal of expired or unused medication.

The medications dropped off at Regional Medical Center by community members were picked up by San Jose police, according to the hospital.

“Many people around the country are struggling with the use and abuse of opioids and we want to do our part to prevents these drugs from being misused,” Ken West, CEO of Regional Medical Center, said in a statement.

Keith Burbank is currently a fulltime reporter covering Alameda County and Oakland news for Bay City News. He has also worked on the Data Points project for Local News Matters, finding trends and stories about the region through data. In 2019, he was a California Fellow at the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, producing a series about homeless deaths in Santa Clara County. He worked as a swing shift editor for the newswire for several years as well. Outside of journalism, Keith enjoys computer programming, math, economics and music.