National Drug Take-Back Initiative on Saturday - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

National Drug Take-Back Initiative on Saturday

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Law enforcement officials want to take back your unused prescription drugs this Saturday. Law enforcement officials want to take back your unused prescription drugs this Saturday.
ATLANTA -

Prescription drug abuse is quickly becoming one of the biggest public safety issues law enforcement officials face. The Centers for Disease Control states that more people are dying from prescription drugs than from cocaine and heroin combined.

Old, unused prescriptions may be sitting around in someone's medicine cabinet or shelf for years. They may assume those drugs are harmless, but they are a potential danger such as addiction and even overdose.

Authorities says that prescription drug abuse is second to only the abuse of marijuana and with it being more readily available. But law enforcement officials are trying to do something about it.

They want people to turn in their old painkillers and other prescription drugs in a National Take-Back Day. Their hope is by taking away the pills; they take away the potential for addiction.

This is the fifth such initiative held to take back prescription drugs. So far, authorities have collected more than a million and a half pounds of pills.

The next National Take-Back Initiative is this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information on the program and to find a collection site near you visit the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Diversion Control website.

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