Dallas County residents who have old, unused prescription medications will have the opportunity to safely dispose of them this week. The Selma Police Department in cooperation with the U.S. Justice Drug Enforcement Administration will hold a National Take Back Initiative Saturday, April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. outside of Walgreens on Highland Avenue.

The purpose of the take back initiative, Lt. Johnny King with the Selma Police Department said, is to simply collect old, unused and expired prescription medications in a safe and legal way.

“We wouldn’t want you to put [old medications] in the trash, because kids will get it,” he said. “What happens is there could be drugs that had been thrown in the garbage or dumpster and anyone can have access to them that way.”

King said residents can drop off old bottles of their prescription medications and at the end of the day they will be boxed up and sent to the DEA, who will then dispose of it properly.

“We’re not even going to handle them. We won’t take the drugs from the people. They’re going to drop them in the box and we’re not even going to touch the drugs ourselves,” King said, adding that the service is free to everyone. “And there’s no questions asked and no I.D. required.”

The department said medications that will be accepted at Saturday’s take back can be both solid dosage and liquid medications that are controlled, non-controlled and over the counter substances. They will collect from individuals and long term care facilities only, meaning they will not accept collections from pharmacies, physicians offices, hospitals or medical clinics. Also, no syringes or illicit substances will be collected.

King encouraged those participating to remove all identifying information from the medication packaging.

“We encourage everyone with an old prescription to come on out. It’s a good way of doing it, and it’ll keep it out of the hands of kids,” he said. “Because like I said, when you put it in the garbage, people riffle through garbage and they can find it. It’s just a good, safe way to get rid of old, outdated drugs.”

The National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative will occur the same day and same hours in cities across the country.