SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – If you have old or extra prescription drugs taking up space in your medicine cabinet, Saturday is your chance to get rid of them for National Drug Take Back Day.

The Sioux Falls Law Enforcement Center has a prescription drug dropbox that can be utilized year-round.

“We take care of that medicine, we dispose of it. It doesn’t end up in the landfill, it doesn’t end up in the groundwater or the drinking water. It gets disposed of in a safe manner,” Sam Clemens with the Sioux Falls Police Department said.

Clemens says last year people dropped off 1,483 pounds of drugs at the law enforcement center. The year before — 1,660 pounds.

“And if you think about how small the pills are, that’s a lot of medicine to add up to that,” Clemens said.

The goal of the take back day is to make sure these drugs aren’t being abused.

“A lot of the time these people, they may do some kind of doctor shopping to get the pills, likely what they’re doing is taking them from somebody else,” Clemens said. “So maybe a family, maybe a friend, maybe somebody that stops over at your house and they see a cabinet full of medicine and they grab some.”

Getting rid of those pills is an important step in lessening abuse and overdoses.

“Prescription drug abuse is really climbing fast and it’s one of the drugs that gets abused frequently,” Clemens said. “Behind meth and marijuana that’s one of the big things we see here in Sioux Falls is just general prescription pills.”

The Sioux Falls Law Enforcement Center lobby will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for National Drug Take Back Day. Police and sheriff stations across the state are participating, to find a drop-off location near you, click here.