LEWISTON — Mainers safely disposed of more prescription medications last weekend than residents in any other New England state, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Tuesday.

Michael Wardrop, resident agent in charge for the federal agency in Maine, said it looks like the state will lead the nation for the second straight year in per-capita prescription drug collection.

Saturday was the agency’s fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

In Maine, law enforcement authorities established 163 collection sites where people seeking to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs could safely hand over their medications. In all, 143 law enforcement agencies in the state participated in the weekend program.

Nearly 20,000 pounds of medications were collected, compared to 14,140 pounds handed over in October at the semiannual collection event, Wardrop said.

He credited education and awareness for Maine’s high numbers.

“It’s a great program,” Wardrop said. “It’s very effective.”

Reasons for creation of the program include environmental protection from flushing medications into the waste stream and preventing the misuse of medications and keeping them from getting into the wrong hands when left in the household longer than needed.

In 2011, Maine saw 23 pharmacy robberies and break-ins for narcotics.

Some police departments in smaller communities have offered to collect unwanted prescriptions from local residents throughout the year. Those departments handed over those medications Saturday, Wardrop said.

Hospitals in the state rely on their own disposal services for unwanted medications. But prescriptions at long-term care facilities, such as nursing homes, are collected by law enforcement authorities, who dumped the drugs at the collection sites Saturday, Wardrop said.

In Androscoggin County this year, volunteers took in 1,890 pounds, more than one-third of it from long-term health care facilities. That compares to 1,420 pounds collected in October.

The legislative act that established the program was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Oct. 12, 2010.

At four of the 163 disposal sites in Maine, including Farwell Elementary School in Lewiston, pharmacy students logged all narcotic prescriptions collected, noting the name of the medication, its dosage, how much was returned and other information as an educational tool.

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