BRANDON, Fla. — National Prescription Drug Back Day is Saturday. 

What You Need To Know

  • Cindy Grant is the executive director of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, which educates parents and the community about the signs and symptoms of opioid addiction. Her son died from an overdose.

  • According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths involving opioids decreased from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 in 2023.

  • Several locations including HCA Brandon Hospital will offer a drop-off to dispose of prescription drugs on Satarday between 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

It’s held twice a year to encourage the safe disposal of prescription drugs. 

Cindy Grant is the executive director of the Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, which educates parents and the community about the signs and symptoms of opioid addiction. 

Her 19-year-old son, Dan Grant, died in 1997 after overdosing on Oxycotin. 

His death was one of the earliest of the opioid epidemic.

Cindy hopes to equip parents with the information she wishes she had back then. 

“A lot of people still don’t know,” said Cindy. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, overdose deaths involving opioids decreased from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 in 2023.

She says back in the early 1990s, public awareness about opioids was limited. 

Now it’s becoming one of the most devastating public health matters of our time. 

“That’s why I try to educate people now on the signs and symptoms,” she said. 

Cindy says her son died after using Oxycotin for the first time. 

“He came home with a new drug, and he and his friend were going to try this new drug,” she said. 

Cindy is joining the Drug Enforcement Administration and HCA Florida Brandon Hospital to spread a key message — it only takes one pill to cause a drug overdose. 

Saturday, during National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, she will also be educating the public about the potential for abuse of medications.

“It also gives us the opportunity to raise awareness that people may not be aware that, where's the one place that youth get access to pills, the home medicine cabinet, their friend's house, and their medicine cabinet, or at grandma's house,” she said.

Sharing memories of her son helps Cindy feel connected to him. 

“Danny is still the first thing on my mind in the morning and the last thing on my mind at night,” said Cindy. 

She says helping others avoid this tragedy also helps her process her own grief in a healthy way.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Several locations including HCA Brandon Hospital will offer a drop-off to dispose of prescription drugs.