October 24 is Prescription Drug Take Back Day and police departments across Idaho are taking part in the national event.
Anyone with prescription medications they no longer need can drop them off at designated locations. Local agencies are partnering with the Drug Enforcement Administration to safely dispose of them.
"You don't even have to get out of your car," said Ed Fritz, crime prevention supervisor for the Boise Police Department. "Just drive through and toss the bag and we will take care of it from there."
Fritz knows the impulse may be to just toss bottles in the trash or empty them down the toilet, but those methods pose significant risks.
"It's hard to remove every single chemical that gets flushed down there out of the water before it ends up in the Boise River," Fritz said. "Secondly, from a landfill, you can have the same issue."
Once the medications are in the DEA’s hands, they are incinerated.
Anyone interested in dropping off medicine can visit dea.gov to find a local site.
