Arkansas police departments are working with the community to safely collect and dispose of prescription drugs on Saturday as part of the 22nd Arkansas Drug Take-Back Day. The semiannual program allows people across the state to turn in their unused or expired prescription medication — no questions asked.Sgt. Anthony Murphy with the Fayetteville Police Department said prescriptions are toxic waste. They can be dangerous to not only people, but also to pets and to the environment if they are not disposed of properly. Flushing medicine down the drain affects drinking water.DEA data shows more than half of the drug overdose deaths in Arkansas in 2018 involved opioid medications. Two-thirds of teenagers and young adults who misuse prescription medications get them from the homes of family and friends, according to the DEA."A lot of people have these prescription drugs in their cabinets, and with small children and adolescents and teenagers," Sgt. Murphy said. "It's readily available, and we don't want that to occur. And we don't want it flushed into our sewer system as well.”Bentonville mom Gina Allgaier knows all too well how prescription opioids can kill. "In 2017, we lost our firstborn son to drug overdose," Allgaier said. "This was just a space I didn't know anything about. I didn't know anything about addiction, really, or what his path had been."PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Family learns of son's dark web use following overdose deathAllgaier founded the nonprofit Speakup About Drugs, dedicated to education and prevention of drug abuse. Her son, Tristan, started with marijuana, but that quickly escalated to harder drugs. Gina said Tristan's drugs of choice often had prescription labels attached."Arkansas continues, sadly, to be the second most over-prescribed state in the entire country," Gina said. "We have a lot of prescription drugs out there that we really need to get off of the streets, get out of people's homes — especially off the counters — and have them properly disposed of."The semiannual National Drug Take-Back Day is observed locally at secure collection sites statewide on Oct. 23 from 10 a.m to 2 p.m. There are nearly 300 drop-off locations across Arkansas. For a full list, click here.