The sheriff’s department in Porter County Indiana is working alongside the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to coordinate the ninth prescription drug drop off day in four years.

The aim of a drop off point for old or unused prescription drugs is to provide citizens a safe way to dispose of their medications while preventing abuse, theft and accidental overdoses of these prescriptions. Residents in Porter County will be able to drop off their pills or patches — but no liquids or needles — and the medication will be received without question.

Prescription pill take back days are becoming increasingly common all over the United States. Prescription drug abuse, especially of opioids and other painkillers, has become a serious threat to public health. Cases of addiction, accidental overdoses or poisonings have reached such staggering numbers that the FDA has introduced several new procedures meant to better monitor how the drugs are distributed and used.

Part of this plan is getting the unused pills out of the house in a safe manner. Leftover medication in the home has been shown to be a leading source of pill related accidents and theft. This approach also provides an alternative to flushing the pills down the toilet or throwing them in the garbage, which has been demonstrated to be unsafe.

The plan seems to be working. Last April, more than 6,000 drop off sites across the country collected 780,000 pounds of pills. This was for one event. When considering the other eight events, over 4 million pounds of prescription pills have been turned in and destroyed.

In addition to take back days, many police agencies are making drop boxes available at all hours, seven days a week to encourage more drop offs.

All of these efforts are part of the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which is aimed at providing opportunities for patients to dispose of drugs they were prescribed to facilities authorized to accept the pills by the Attorney General.