Southwick Police Sergeant Kevin Bishop, right, formally accepts a MedReturn prescription drug return receptacle from, left-right, Soloe Dennis, left, regional director of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Southwick Health Inspector Thomas Fitzgerald, and Southwick Town Nurse Kate Johnson. The receptacle, in the Southwick Police Department lobby, is a secure container that will be used to dispose of unwanted prescription medication. (Photo by Frederick Gore)
SOUTHWICK – Prescription medication disposal is a public safety concern that just got a little easier in Southwick, putting the town on the cutting edge in that area.
A MedReturn box was installed at the police department this week thanks to the cooperative effort of the Southwick Board of Health (BOH) and the Department of Public Health (DPH).
Health Director Thomas Fitzgerald and Town Nurse Kate Johnson applied for and received a $500 grant from the DPH. The BOH added $200 from its budget to purchase unit, which is located in the police station lobby.
Fitzgerald and Johnson said there is a new trend among teens called a “farm party” where participants take prescription medications – generally from grandparents and parents – and pool the drugs. They then take assorted and unknown pills.
“One of the problems we find is unauthorized use of prescription drugs,” Fitzgerald said.
The hope is that having an easily accessible and safe place to dispose of unneeded or expired prescription meds will help keep the drugs out of the wrong hands.
Fitzgerald said there is also an environmental benefit to using the MedReturn box.
“This is keeping the meds out of the groundwater,” said Fitzgerald.
While he said it is not a big concern specifically for Southwick, water contamination from discarded prescription drugs is a growing problem.
“It is happening nationally,” he said, noting flushing drugs is not illegal but is definitely discouraged. “Anything we can do to get it out of the waste stream is beneficial.”
The accepted items for the MedReturn include prescriptions, prescription patches, prescription medications, prescription ointments, over-the-counter medications, and vitamins.
Items not allowed in the box include hydrogen peroxide, inhalers, thermometers, needles, ointments and lotions, and aerosol cans.
Police Sgt. Kevin Bishop said the locked unit would be monitored regularly and once full, be disposed of in the same manner as any other medications obtained by police.
“We usually send these things to UMass for testing, and then they are taken to an incinerator,” said Bishop.
Fitzgerald said Southwick is the first community in the area to receive a MedReturn box for public use. It is the first town that DPH awarded a mini-grant for the unit.
“There is a bi-annual drug take-back sponsored by the DPH, but they are cutting back on those,” Fitzgerald said, adding that DPH is working toward all towns having a MedReturn box.
Sharps are not allowed in the units but Fitzgerald said as of July 1, 2012, needles and syringes are not allowed to be disposed of with household trash. The BOH has a sharps box in its office and has to pay for disposal of the items.
“There is a concern that the needles can puncture someone, even through a container,” said Johnson. “When there is a biohazard concern, it’s just safer not to put it in the trash.”
