Last week, a MedSafe Drug Drop-off box became available in Liberal, Kansas.
A ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Liberal Chamber of Commerce took place for the MedSafe box, and officials with the Liberal Area Coalition for Families, including director Sarah Foreman, were on hand for the presentation.
The box came at the heels of a purchase of a Elastec Drug Terminator Incinerator. The purchase was made possible with a donation from Southern Pioneer Electric’s Helping Us Give to Society (HUGS) program.
The $1,500 HUGS donation was matched by CoBank, making a total of $3,000 towards the LPD’s equipment.
Annually, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has its National Prescription Drug Take Back Initiative. The Liberal Police Department takes part in this.
Now, with the additon of the MedSafe box, people can dispose of their unwanted medication whenever it’s convenient for them. It’s available for drop-off Monday through Friday, from 8 to 5.
The MedSafe box is in the lobby. There is no need to check in with anyone. You just walk in to the station, throw in your medication, and leave.
After the medications are dropped in the MedSafe container, a minimum of two employees remove the medication and take it to the new incinerator. The medication is incinerated on the same day.
The Vermont State Police is also joining the ranks of departments that have a secure disposal box available year-round, all week.
Six of the 10 VSP barracks already have been outfitted with drop boxes. There are more coming.
It’s just another way for locals to clean out the poison from their medicine cabinets, said Public Safety Comissioner Anderson.
Police stations and State Police barracks across Erie County now have drug take-back boxes.
People in Erie can also safely deposit expired or unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medication at Erie Police Stations now.
An interactive map that shows where the boxes are located can be found here.
It was created by the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and includes more than a dozen sites in Erie County and nearly 700 statewide.
At the ribbon cutting ceremony in Liberal, Kansas, Liberal Area Coalition for Families Director Sarah Foreman spoke about the goals and expectations for the MedSafe box the Station installed.
She said a large problem, at least among young people, is taking prescription medicines from their parents’ medicine cabinets to parties. This creates a danger close in nature to taking illegal drugs. Maybe more dangerous, since the pills are mixed and may be funky due to the expired ingredients.
While having a disposal box doesn’t empirically curb the behavior, she hopes that reducing drug use among teenagers would be one result of installing the drop box.
“I think the goal of any MedSafe disposal is to get either prescribed drugs off the streets, out of the wrong hands, and expired medication also not in the water system, not on the streets, not in dumpsters, but safely disposed of and then incinerated,” she said.
Other dangers of expired and unused medication would be for small children, as well as elderly who may be confused about which type of medication is safe.
Often people don’t know what to do with the expired medications, or don’t get to the drop off locations at drug takeback events, so having a permanent box that is open all week is a great option for disposing of expired or unused medications.
The DEA and Google both provide locators to find your nearest prescription drug take back locations.
Check out The DEA and Google pages below. They contain tools and more info on the ever growing efforts to help people properly dispose of their unused prescription drugs. This is certainly part of the bigger plan to help end the opioid crisis.
DEA’s Prescription Drug Take Back Location Tool
Google’s Prescription Drug Take Back Location Tool
We are MedWaste Management – California’s medical waste disposal experts!
Established in 2008, MedWaste Management brings great benefit to the healthcare industry and the general public alike. We publish this blog to to spread useful and practical information to help people stay safe, smart and healthy!
Call us with any questions or to start service at (866) 254-5105. We are always happy to speak!
Check out our services and other great resources in the links below.
Medical Waste Disposal Services
Home Generated Medical Waste Drop-Off Points In California