Prescription Drug Collection Box Now Inside Police Station

By Andrew Gorosko

Police have moved a large metal box in use since last spring for the collection of residents’ unwanted prescription drugs, from outdoors to indoors, positioning the storage box inside the lobby of the police station at 3 Main Street.

Since last April, the large gray box, which is the size and shape of a US Mail letter collection box, had been located on a pedestal in the parking lot next to the main entrance at the police station.

But some new regulations promulgated by the state Department of Consumer Protection’s (DCP) drug control division now require that such collection boxes for unwanted and expired prescriptions be housed indoors. The DCP terms the receptacle a “prescription drug drop box.”

Patrol Sergeant Douglas Wisentaner supervises the collection program for the police department.

Since police started collecting unwanted medications for proper disposal last spring, they typically have received about five pounds of drugs each month, Sgt Wisentaner said. The collected drugs are later incinerated for disposal.

The drug disposal program is available to the public around the clock, seven days a week. The disposal is free and anonymous, with residents not needing to provide their identities or supply any information about the drugs they are dropping in the collection box.

The drug collection project provides the public with an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Medicines that languish in home medicine chests are susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse, according to police.

In the past, authorities had advised prescription drug users to dispose of unwanted drugs by flushing them down a toilet or by throwing them into the trash. However, it is has been determined that such disposal methods pose potential safety and health hazards.

The DCP’s new policy on the use of drug drop boxes includes rules on: seeking approval to install a box, buying and installing a box, the collection and monitoring of drug disposals, the storage and disposal of the collected drugs, and annual registration renewals for the use of a drop box.

Police prohibit the disposal of any “sharps” in the collection box. Sharps include items such as hypodermic syringes, needles, lancets, and pen-style needles. Other items prohibited for disposal are aerosol medications, bloody and/or infectious wastes, peroxide, thermometers, intravenous drip bags, mail, batteries, and trash.

Police have positioned a supply of plastic bags and a black marker near the drug drop box in the lobby. People disposing of drugs are urged to use the marker to obliterate personal information on drug bottle labels. The drugs, including liquid medications, should then be placed in a plastic bag for placement into the drop box. Liquids should not be poured directly into the drop box.

The drug drop box in the police station lobby is intended for use by residents, not by businesses, according to police.