While many families focus on purging their homes of unwanted clutter or masses of accumulated dust and dirt this time of year, county officials are asking residents to add one more item to their spring cleaning lists: clearing out the medicine cabinet.

Later this month, local law enforcement and anti-drug agencies will participate in the National Drug Take Back Day, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 29. Area residents are encouraged to gather any unused, unwanted or expired medications (pill or powder only) from their homes and take them to one of several drop-off locations for safe disposal that day.

Sites include:

• Silver Creek Township Hall, 32764 Dixon St., Dowagiac

• Family Fare Supermarket, 56151 M-51, Dowagiac

• Pokagon Tribal Health Center, 58620 Sink Road, Dowagiac

• Cass County Sheriff’s Office, 321 M-62, Cassopolis

• Ontwa/Edwardsburg Police Department, 26296 E. Main St., Edwardsburg

• Howard Township Hall, 1345 Barron Lake Road, Niles

• Niles Michigan State Police Post, 1600 Silverbrook Ave., Niles

• Marcellus Township Hall, 13163 Marcellus Highway, Marcellus

Law enforcement officers will collect all medication dropped off at the sites, and will take them to an area incinerator for safe disposal.

Cass County has participated in the National Drug Take Back Day — organized annually by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — since 2011, said E.J. McAndrew, coordinator of the C.A.S.S. Coalition, a Cass County anti-drug task force.

The goal of the event is remove opioid, stimulant, psychoactive and other types of medication from local homes. The average county home contains an average of 152 pills — 127 of which are opioids, McAndrew said.

Many who begin abusing narcotics get their start by stealing these types of pills from home medicine cabinets. While this abuse often occurs among teenagers who take pills from their parents’ or grandparents’ homes, sometimes people outside the family are able to get their hands on these pills by pilfering them from homes during open houses or parties, McAndrew said.

“You can be part of the solution,” McAndrew said. “By simply getting rid of these drugs, you are keeping them out of the hands of someone who may abuse them.”

Safe drug disposal also keeps medications out of landfills, where animals may ingest them, or out of water supplies, where the chemicals may cause elevated acid levels or other issues, McAndrew said.

On average, the county collects around 70 pounds of medication every year through the collection, though McAndrew is hoping to gather 100 pounds this year, she said. Since 2011, the county has disposed of 1,600 pounds of pills, from both the take back days as well as throughout the year at permanent collection boxes stationed throughout the county, McAndrew said.