National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for this Saturday, April 28, when Fountain Hills and neighboring communities will host a big push to collect any expired or unwanted prescription medications.

The object of this event is to provide a safe, convenient and responsible way to dispose of unneeded drugs while simultaneously educating the community about the potential for abuse, according to the diversion Control Division website.

Locally, the Fountain Hills Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition partners with the Fountain Hills Sanitary District and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to orchestrate the event.

For Take Back Day, it is recommended all prescription drug drop-offs be in a sealed container. If you don’t want to drop off your pill bottles, it is recommended their contents be poured into a Ziploc bag. No sharps, liquids or creams should be dropped off for this event.

Additional details on Take Back Day will be announced soon but, in the meantime, Fountain Hills is home to a permanent drop box within Town Hall, 16705 E. Avenue of the Fountains.

Following the same guidelines noted above, unwanted prescription drugs may be dropped off in the container near the Sherriff’s Office desk, Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

At a recent Coalition meeting, it was announced that 139 pounds of prescription drugs had been collected at the Town Hall drop box during the first quarter of 2018 alone. It was noted that this was the single biggest quarterly collection for the drop box to date.

For more information about the local Coalition, visit safehomesfh.org.