PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The government held its second national prescription drug take back day on Saturday. The goal is to dispose of the medicines in an environmentally safe way and remove the temptation for those who might abuse them.

The Bryant Baptist Church along South 19th Street near Federal Street in South Philadelphia was just one prescription drug drop off location out of nearly 5,000 sites nationwide.

“A lot of times people just throw them in the trash and people go through the trash looking for cans and the wrong person gets a hold of them and uses them in the wrong way and don’t know exactly what they are used for. So we try to get rid of these drugs and put them in the right place,” said police officer Anthony Jackson with the Philadelphia narcotics division.

Officer Jackson says about 100 bottles of unused prescription drugs were turned in at the South Philadelphia church.

Reported By John McDevitt, KYW Newsradio