Time to Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet

If you have unused or expired prescriptions cluttering your medicine cabinet, Baltimore County police officials will take them off of your hands on Saturday.

Police officers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents will collect the old prescription drugs as part of the DEA's National Take Back Initiative, according to a police department statement.

Legal prescription drugs will be collected, with no questions asked and no ID required, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the North Point Precinct 12 headquarters, 1747 Merritt Blvd.

Residents should drop off medications in the original packaging or remove them and place them in the disposal boxes, according to the statement.

Liquid medicines should be tightly sealed in their original containers.

Residents should remove any identifying information that may be on prescription labels.

Officials will not accept illicit drugs or syringes, and residents must arrive by 2 p.m.; those arriving later will be turned away, according to the statement.

During the DEA's third National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on October 29, 2011, Americans turned in more than 377,086 pounds (188.5 tons) of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,327 take-back sites throughout all 50 states and U.S. territories, according to a DEA statement.

When the results of the three prior take-back days are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed 995,185 pounds (498.5 tons) of medication from circulation in the past 13 months, officials said.

Other collections points open Saturday are the Woodlawn Precinct 2 headquarters, 6424 Windsor Mill Road, and Cockeysville Precinct 7 headquarters, 111 Wight Ave.