Every other month on the second Saturday, Marana Police holds, "Dispose-A-Med", events where people can bring their unused or expired medication pills to a location so they can be disposed of properly.
Marana Police say if they are not disposed of in the right way and are thrown in the trash, they can be sold illegally or abused.
If they are flushed down the toilet or through a sink, it can also contaminate the water supply.
One volunteer with Marana Police says this event helps keep unused pills out of the wrong hands and out of the reach of children.
"Number one, we want to keep the drugs out of the wrong hands, we don't want children to get them we also want to keep them out of the hands of pets in your house and thirdly, we don't want them in the water system so never flush them in the toilet, never wash them in the sink."
After working the disposal events over 5 years, she says she has seen everything from prescription pills to opioids and even narcotics come across their table.
"We get a lot of opioids especially if someone passes away in hospice care, we get a lot of things from that, we actually had medical marijuana turned in to us in the past and all the stuff that we accept gets incinerated and destroyed."
2018 events: Target, 3901 W. Ina Rd (Corner of W. Ina Rd & N. Thornydale Rd), 10 AM - 12 PM
- February 10
- April, 14
- June, 9
- August, 11
- October, 13
- December, 8
