Authorities Want Your Old Drugs

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration are urging citizens to clean out their medicine cabinets this weekend, and turn in any old prescription drugs.

The sheriff's department will be participating in the DEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, and will be collecting unwanted drugs at four locations around the county.

Prescription capsules or tablets (no solutions, injectables or needles) will be accepted for free and anonymously from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Rancho Cordova Police Department, 2897 Kilgore Rd. They'll also be collected at the sheriff's department's Florin Station (7000 65th St.), its Garfield Station (5510 Garfield Ave.) and at Antelope High School (7801 Titan Dr.).

"Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse," sheriff's department spokesman Dep. Jason Ramos said in a press release. "Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs."

A national drug take-back day held in October netted more than 188 tons of drugs across the country, according to the DEA.