In a move that marked a countrywide effort to collect unwanted medicines, people across Central Florida cleared off old, expired, and unused prescription drugs from their shelves on Saturday, and handed them over to the local drug enforcement authorities.
 
The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event, which is now in its second year, gave the people around the country an opportunity to clear away any medications that they no longer require or use, sans any explanation.
 
Initiated by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the event has chiefly been designed to encourage people to dispose of prescription drugs as well as hazardous controlled substances from their houses, thereby reducing the chances of abuse.
 
In addition, the event also prevents people from throwing away or flushing pills – a move that can be dangerous given the fact that traces of the drugs disposed off this way can end up in the public-water supply.
 
According to the details shared by some officials, despite the fact that the Saturday event, by and large, attracted comparatively fewer people than the first National Prescription Drug Take Back Day - which was held in September last year -, some locations were still busy this time round too.

Noting that the event has been a trifle ‘slow’ thus far, sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Vachon stated: “The deputies at the event said the traffic has been slightly lighter than last year.”