Pill Drop-Off Day will take place Tuesday at four locations in Riverside County, allowing people to drop off prescription drugs.
An announcement of the event states the drugs can be turned in "with no questions asked."
The event is being organized by school resource officers at various locations, along with youth accountability teams, local school districts and the Riverside County Office of Education.
There has been a "considerable increase" in overdoses among students just since January, according to Raquel Marquez, senior deputy district attorney.
Marquez said in the announcement that one drug singled out by authorities is oxycodone, a prescription narcotic pain reliever best known by the trade name OxyContin. "This prescription drug is substantially similar to heroin and yet we wouldn't leave heroin in a family's medicine cabinet," she wrote.
Riverside County sheriff's Lt. Charles Wilhite said law enforcement is seeing a rising number of young people in Riverside County who began using narcotics by popping pills from the family medicine cabinet -- and who have now become heroin addicts.
Prescription medication should not be thrown away, rinsed down a drain or flushed away because they create substantial environmental contamination.
Drop-off points from 3 to 6 p.m. Tuesday:
Lake Elsinore -- Lake Elsinore Unified School District, 565 Chaney St.
Hemet-San Jacinto -- Valley-Wide Regional Park, 901 W. Esplanade Ave., San Jacinto.
Murrieta -- Murrieta Police Department, 24701 Jefferson Ave.
Temecula -- Ronald Reagan Sports Park, 42659 Margarita Road.
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