Prescription Drug Take Back Day events taking place in Minnesota

The Mayo Clinic is partnering with local law enforcement to host a drop-off for prescription drugs Saturday in Rochester — one of many drop-off events taking place around the state.

It's all part of the Prescription Drug Take Back Day, a nationwide event meant to encourage people to turn in their old prescriptions.

Dr. Halena Gazelka is an anesthesiologst at the Mayo Clinic who also oversees the hospital's opioid stewardship program. She said people can drop off any medications at the event, but they are especially interested in controlled substances. "It's important to keep those medications out of people's medicine cabinets where they could be diverted," she said.

"Eighty percent of people who eventually become addicted to substances such as heroin start with a prescription medication. But it's not just a prescription that they've been given; it's a prescription that might have come to a friend or to a relative," Gazelka said.

Mayo has recently started rethinking its own opioid prescribing practices.

The drop-off in Rochester will be open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday at Mayo's Gonda Building.

Drop-off events also are taking place Saturday in other communities around the state. Find a location in your community here.