Mass. Police Departments Take Part In Prescription Drug Take Back Day

MEDFORD (CBS/AP) — Organizers are calling Saturday's campaign to keep prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands, a successful one.

Several police departments in the area, including Medford, participated in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

Organizers said they were able to collect well over 400 pounds of unused prescription drugs.

"We've seen drastic declines in youth prescription drug use since, basically since around this program started, so 2013, we started to see a huge decline," Medford Prevention Outreach Manager Penny Funaiole told WBZ-TV.

The Cambridge, Waltham and Saugus police departments were among the law enforcement agencies that hosted collection sites where people could safely dispose of expired, unused or unwanted prescription drugs.

Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh's office says there are collection kiosks at several locations across the city, including downtown, Brighton and Jamaica Plain.

The locations are open year-round, there is no charge for disposing the drugs and residents can do it anonymously.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)