The 2024 National Prescription Drug Take Back Day event will be at the Valley Mall on Saturday.

The day is part of the efforts by the U.S, Drug Enforcement Administration, Harrisonburg Police Department and Community Service Board to get unused medications off the street, decrease overdoses and keep the community safe.

“The drug overdose epidemic in the United States is a clear and present public health, public safety, and national security threat,” states the DEA’s website.

The DEA states that it is committed to making communities safer and healthier by reducing overdoses and overdose deaths.

People in all communities can help with the DEA’s mission by turning in unneeded medications, which can prevent those medications from being misused, stated the DEA.

The “DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day reflects DEA’s commitment to Americans’ safety and health, encouraging the public to remove unneeded medications from their homes as a measure of preventing medication misuse and opioid addiction from ever starting.”

On Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., The Harrisonburg Police Department and Community Service Board will participate in the 2024 DEA National Drug Take Back Day, according to HPD’s website. People can come to the Valley Mall at 1925 East Market St. in front of the Books-A-Million store, to turn in unused medications.

HPD said that CSB and HPD’s goal is to “provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of unwanted or expired prescriptions drugs.”