These pills are meant to help, but in the wrong hands they can do more harm than good.
"Thousands of people are dying. In 16 states, prescription drug overdoses has overtaken motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of accidental death," says Dr. John Dreyzehner, Virginia Department of Health.
Dreyzehner is a director with the Virginia Department of Health. He's also with One Care of Southwest Virginia - a group of doctors, social workers and other recovery personnel trying to tackle a growing pill problem.
Says Dreyzehner, "This is a national problem. We've been battling this in Southwest Virginia for a number of years and I would say we're a bit ahead of the game."
Sunday - doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare providers gathered at the New River Community College to learn what can be done.
"The more we educate, we get people registered for the prescription drug monitoring program and we are following up with our patients doing pills counts and urine drug screens, that's the way we're going to identify these patients," explains Sarah Melton, a Clinical Pharmacist.
Organizers say the prescription drug problem has far-reaching effects - ruining families and increasing crime.
"This is complicated. there is no one easy magic bullet solution to the drug abuse misuse problem," says Dr. Dreyzehner.
While that may be the case- the group believes there are four-lines of defense: proper disposal areas, education, enforcement and monitoring.
