State and local agencies are coming together for the third national prescription drug take-back.

Suffolk Police investigators will be at the Walmart on North Main Street and Bennett’s Creek Pharmacy on Bridge Road Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the collection.

The Richmond district Drug Enforcement Administration is teaming up with the Virginia State Police, Suffolk Police Department and other local groups for the initiative.

For the event, people will be allowed to surrender expired, unwanted or unused pharmaceutical-controlled substances and other medicines.

Residents can clean out their medicine cabinets and get rid of controlled and over-the-counter substances. Intravenous solutions, injectables and syringes will not be accepted because of the hazard of blood-borne pathogens.

Law enforcement is collecting the medications to destroy them.

Take-back participants will not be asked any questions and will not have to show any identification.

Medications can be turned over by removing it from the container or in its original container.

If prescriptions are given in the original bottle, any identifying information should be removed from the label.

Liquid products, like cough syrup, should remained sealed in their original containers.

National Take-Back Initiative Day is an effort to eliminate the threat of dangerous prescription drugs from citizens’ homes.

The police department also collected prescription drugs from citizens in April and during last year’s National Take-Back Day last September.

At the September event, the officers collected almost 90 combined pounds of pharmaceuticals at two locations.

Nationwide, almost 4,000 state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation participated in the September and April events, and they collected more than 309 tons of pills.

“The amount of prescription drugs turned in by the American public during the first two Take-Back events is simply staggering — 309 tons — and represents a clear need for a convenient way to rid homes of unwanted or expired prescription drugs,” said DEA Administrator Michele M. Leonhart in an agency new release. “DEA is hard at work establishing a drug disposal process and will continue to offer take-back opportunities until the proper regulations are in place.”

For more information, contact Lt. Tim Duncan with the Suffolk Police Department Special Investigations Unit by phone 514-7951 or through email at tduncan@suffolkva.us.