Maine residents will have the opportunity once again to participate in the third National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative on Saturday, April 28. This event, sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and state and local agencies, will enable residents throughout the state, to safely and at no cost, dispose of unwanted or expired prescriptions and/or over-the-counter medications. The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at various locations throughout the state that can be found online at www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html.

Farmington area locations include Hannaford on Main Street, Jay; the Livermore Falls Police Department and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Farmington.

Locations near Lewiston-Auburn include the Auburn Fire Department, 550 Minot Ave.; police departments in Sabattus, Lisbon and Mechanic Falls; Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston; and the Poland Town Office parking lot.

Disposal is free and anonymous. Officials ask that personal identification information be removed from labels. Prescription and over-the-counter pills, drops, ointments, etc. will be accepted. However, no thermometers, batteries, durable medical equipment or intravenous solutions, injectables or syringes can be accepted.

According to Michael W. Wardrop, resident agent of the DEA in Portland, the three prior events in 2011 removed more than 995,185 pounds of medication from circulation throughout the entire 50 states and U.S. territories, 33,870 of which were collected from Maine. In all three events, Maine ranked number one in the U.S. per capita for the largest state collection.

The percentage of Mainers seeking treatment for prescription drug addiction is the highest in the country.

“Before these drug collection initiatives were organized, people had no idea what to do with expired drugs, or medications that were left over after a family member died,” said Donald Lauzier, co-founder of the Northern York County Prescription Drug Coalition and vice president of community relations at Saco & Biddeford Savings Institution. “As a result, some of these drugs just sat in peoples’ drawers or medicine cabinets, increasing the chances of these meds being taken by children, or people would just flush the pills down the toilet, potentially impacting our water supplies.”

Local senior living centers, assisted living communities and nursing homes are urged to contact local law enforcement agencies prior to April 28 so that a secure and responsible collection can be made from these locations and surrendered to the DEA at the conclusion of the collection on April 28.