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Drop-off boxes being utilized for disposal of unused, expired prescription medications

November 29, 2011|By Katie Perkowski

The latest counts by city and county law enforcement officials show more than 16,000 prescription drug pills have been disposed of through the month-old drop-off box program.

Through efforts of the Clark County Agency for Substance Abuse Policy, one drop box was placed at the Winchester Police Department and one at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in October. The boxes are intended to provide a safe place for members of the community to dispose of their expired or unwanted prescription drugs and to prevent prescription drug abuse.

Scheduled, or controlled drugs, are tightly controlled because of their potential for abuse or risk, and are rated from one to five. The assigned schedules are based on whether the drugs have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the U.S., and their relative abuse potential and likelihood of causing dependence, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

ASAP coordinator Janna Smith said that as of Monday, Sheriff Berl Perdue reported that 6,069 pills had been turned in at the sheriff’s office. Of those, 4,518 were scheduled, and 1,551 were non-scheduled. She said Winchester Police Chief Kevin Palmer reported that as of the department’s last monthly count on Nov. 21, 10,392 pills had been turned in at the station. Of those, 306 were scheduled, and 10,086 were non-scheduled.

Smith said she informed ASAP board members of the numbers as of Nov. 17 at a meeting, and the response was positive.

“I’m very pleased with these numbers, and I know my board is too,” Smith said. “We were all very pleased and they’ve gone up since the 17th quite a bit. We’re happy with what they’ve received in just the short amount of time the boxes have been in place.”

The drop boxes at each location are checked regularly to log the amount of drugs received, and drugs are destroyed according to DEA regulations. Accepted items at the boxes are prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, pet medications, medicated ointments, medicated creams, medicated lotions, liquid medication in plastic containers, vitamins and inhalers.

Helping prevent prescription drug abuse in the community is not the only positive to the boxes, Smith said.
“ ... That’s just that many more pills that are out of our water systems as well,” she said.

Smith said that although she’s not complaining about the number of pills received so far, the word has not gotten out about the drop boxes as much as she had hoped. She said ASAP members are still working to get the word out, and this week they are distributing informational fliers to doctors’ offices, local agencies and pharmacies.

“I think that the people that have utilized these boxes truly recognize the issue of substance abuse that we have in our community,” she said. “And people are willing to take the time and the effort to deliver them to those boxes. I’m very pleased with that effort from our community.”

Contact Katie Perkowski at kperkowski@winchestersun.com or follow her on Twitter, @TheSunKatie.

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