MADILL, OK - The Marshall County Sheriff's Office is teaming up with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics to help keep prescription drugs off the street and out of the hands of abusers.

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics said prescription drug abuse is a growing epidemic in Oklahoma and safely disposing the medication is critical in keeping drugs off the streets.

"If you are not going to use them, bring them down to the sheriff's office and get rid of them so young people or people who arent supposed to don't get ahold of them," OBN Director Darrell Weaver said.

Tuesday, OBN stopped by the Marshall County Sheriff's Office to set up a drop box for people to bring any unused pills.

"We need to really tackle and really wrap our arms around the prescription drug problem in Oklahoma," Weaver said. "This is one of the ways we can do that."

Marshall County Sheriff Bob Wilder said, "We continually have citizens call and wanting to dispose their prescription drugs and we really have had no means to do that until this point."

Wilder said he hopes residents will take advantage of the drop box since it's an easy way to help prevent violent crime, related to illegal drug use.

"People become aware of it, especially those people who have been ill for some time with sicknesses that require pain medication," Wilder said. "We have people breaking in just for the purpose of stealing those drugs."

"We've taken back around the state, eleven tons of unused, unwanted prescriptions in the last year and we believe there are prescriptions in cabinets here that need to come out," Weaver said.

OBN said they will be working over the next couple weeks to install a drop box in each one of Oklahoma's 77 counties.

Log on to www.ok.gov/obndd to find a list of drop box locations near you.