The fifth National Take Back Day drug collection event has been scheduled 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sept. 29 when Lehigh County residents can take expired and unused prescription and over-the-counter medications to police departments and other locations at 16 sites in the county.

County residents can dispose of capsules, pills, including pet medications and liquids. Syringes or sharps will not be accepted.

The program, as has been the case in the last four collections, will be anonymous, and no questions will be asked of individuals disposing of medications.

The event is being coordinated by the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office, area police departments, the Allentown Health Bureau, Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration.

Collection sites are listed below, but computer users also can visit www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov and click on "Got Drugs" on the left to find convenient locations. Users can click on "search for a collection site near you" and then enter their zip code.

"Members of the public have expressed their gratitude to police for hosting the collections because they want to make sure the drugs don't get into the hands of children who want to experiment with them or end up in landfills or in the area's water supply," Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin said.

"The Allentown Health Bureau is excited to partner again in this effort, and we encourage everyone to avoid medication errors and accidental and intentional drug overdose by cleaning out their medicine cabinets and drawers for the Sept. 29 event," Vicky Kistler, director of the Allentown Health Bureau said.

DEA personnel take the drugs to an incinerator where they are burned.

Martin said many people do not know most of the commonly abused drugs by teenagers are prescription drugs. He said the drugs are usually in the family's bathroom medicine cabinets, where they are forgotten. Because they are not being used by the people for whom they were prescribed, no one checks to see if one pill or 10 pills are missing.

He noted studies have shown one in 10 teenagers have used Vicodin for nonmedical purposes. Other drugs misused and abused are Percocet, Oxycontin and codeine cough syrup, stimulants like Adderall, Ritalin and Dexedrine, and sedatives and tranquilizers like Valium, Xanax and Ambien.

"It's important that parents who once child-proofed their house now teen-proof them by locking medicine cabinets and disposing of unwanted drugs," Martin said. "Many users of street drugs, such as heroin, start with prescription drug abuse."

He said many teens believe because a doctor prescribed medications or they are available in their local drug store they are not dangerous.

Accidental overdoses also occur when medications are taken by small children or others who mistook them for other medications. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a morbidity and mortality report that showed an increasing number of fatalities caused by the nonmedical use of prescription medications.

"People sometimes ask why they can't give their unwanted medications to other people who can't afford them. I want to stress that it is illegal under the Controlled Substances Act to give medications to someone else," Martin said.

Prescription medications are given to patients by the doctors who know them, their symptoms and their medical history. The doctors know about previous side effects a patient has had and about any complaints associated with past medication use.

"The lay person who gives their medications to someone else might be well intentioned but can cause serious harm or death to someone else," Martin said.

Medications will be collected at the following locations:

ŸEmmaus Police Department, 400 Jubilee St., Emmaus;

ŸLower Milford Township Police Department, 7607 Chestnut Hill Church Road, Coopersburg;

ŸAlburtis Police Department, 260 Franklin St., Alburtis;

ŸMacungie Police Department, 21 Locust St., Macungie;

ŸSalisbury Township Police Department, 3000 S. Pike Ave., Salisbury Township;

ŸGiant supermarket, 3015 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown. Allentown police will collect medications;

ŸGiant supermarket, 216 E. Fairmont St., Route 9, Coopersburg. Coopersburg police will collect medications.