CRANBERRY TWP — District Attorney Rich Goldinger said Tuesday there’s a heroin epidemic in Butler County, and more than 80 percent of heroin addicts start their drug abuse with prescription pills.

That’s why Goldinger in connection with several state agencies has a drop box program that allows residents to safely dispose of unused or unwanted prescription drugs.

The seven boxes are in police departments across the county. Goldinger said at a news conference Tuesday that the Cranberry drop box has had the most activity.

“It’s getting quite a bit of use,” Goldinger said, adding that officials have already emptied it a half-dozen times since January, which is when they were installed.

Goldinger said police have recovered more than 250 pounds of prescription drugs from the seven drop boxes. That’s significant, he said, because that’s 250 pounds of medication that won’t find its way to the streets or into the hands of abusers.

All of the prescription medications recovered in the boxes are incinerated at an undisclosed location, he said.

The seven boxes are in the Butler, Butler Township, Cranberry, Penn, Saxonburg and the Slippery Rock police departments and in the county prison. Anyone wanting to drop off medications can do so during normal business hours.

The boxes are for prescription and over-the-counter medications as well as liquid medications, inhalers, cream ointments, nasal sprays and pet medications.