Officials say West Virginians turned in more than 3,600 pounds of unwanted, unused and expired prescription drugs during a weekend drug take-back event, the Associated Press reported this morning.

That’s a lot of unused medications that are now off the streets and out of medicine cabinets. That also means those drugs are not going to be abused by anyone and that’s great.

U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Resident Agent in Charge Dennis Bolum say Saturday’s results surpassed April’s prescription drug collection total of more than 3,100 pounds. It also exceeded the 2,400 pounds of pills collected during a similar event in September 2010.

Goodwin says 70 percent of people who use prescription drugs for non-medical purposes get the drugs from friends or a family member, and the Drug Take Bank Day events are a way to prevent that. Residents were able to drop off unwanted medication at more than 100 sites.

We hope this drug collection continues each year to help take even more unused medications off the streets and out of the hands of abusers.