ROYAL CITY - Residents have the opportunity to drop off their leftover medicine safely, anonymously, and securely at a new drug take-back site at the Royal City Police Department.

The new drug take-back box helps reduce the risk of accidental drug poisonings and overdose deaths. It minimizes the environmental hazards of improper medicine disposal. The drop-off is free and available for use 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"Drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental deaths in the state of Washington, surpassing car crashes, and most of the overdoses involve prescription opiates," says Karen Shapiro, senior associate for policy and programs at PSI. "Grant County has one of the highest death rates from prescription overdose in the state."

Thanks to this effort, residents of Grant County now have five locations at which to drop off their unwanted medication, says Jefferson Ketchel, administrator of the Grant County Health District.

"We extend our gratitude to Royal City for accepting this new take-back box and helping improve the lives of our community members," he said.