More than a ton of prescription medications have been safely disposed of since a drug take back program started in western Massachusetts ten months ago.
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said people are responding to appeals to responsibly rid their cabinets and cupboards of unwanted pills to keep the drugs out of the wrong hands.
"Very often people are going into medicine cabinets looking for these kinds of things and it becomes the beginning of addiction," said Gulluni.
Prescription medicine return boxes were placed last September at 14 locations in Hampden County, primarily police stations. Hampden County Sheriff Deputies take the contents of the boxes to an incinerator.
There have also been one-time drug take-back events such as one held Thursday at the Holyoke Mall.
Gulluni said there appears to have been a leveling-off in the number of opioid-related deaths in the first three months of this year.
