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The Butler County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with SpectraCare Health Systems to conduct a prescription drug take-back on April 24.

From 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the sheriff’s office inside the Butler County Courthouse, officials will anonymously take and safely dispose of unwanted or expired medications.

“Because we have such a huge prescription drug and opioid epidemic, we’re trying to fight that by having people bring and turn them in for disposal instead of leaving the medication lying around in their homes.” said Desiree Jones of SpectraCare.

According to Jones, safely disposing of medication helps keep chemicals out of the water supply, and “keeps [drugs] out of young people’s hands.”

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “more than 115 Americans dies after overdosing on opioids” every day.

Furthermore, the NIDA estimated in 2016 that “54 million people over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons in their lifetime.”

Butler County Sheriff Kenny Harden said that, from the point of view of the Sherriff’s Office, the purpose of the take-back is mainly community safety.

“People can bring their old medications in, and it can keep a small child from getting a hold of them… it can also help cut down on burglaries and thefts of medication,” Harden said.

Harden emphasized that anyone can bring their unwanted medications in for disposal, no questions asked.