JOSEPH A. ROUSE
WESTFIELD – City officials are defining what prescription drugs may be dropped off at the collection box in the lobby of the Westfield Police Department.
The drug kiosk was initiated by the Health Department with two goals: to reduce the non-medical use of prescription drugs and to eliminate improper disposal of prescription drugs in household water.
Health Director Joseph Rouse said that a 2011 substance abuse survey indicates that more than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs and that among youths 12 to 17 years of age, 7.4 percent report non-medical use of prescription drugs.
“Properly disposing of excess (prescription) drugs is everyone’s responsibility as a matter of public health and safety,” Rouse said in a prepared text released yesterday. “More than 70 percent of young people abusing prescription pain relievers get them through friends or family, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet,” he said.
“Westfield is committed to providing residents with a safe, secure and environmentally sound way to dispose of unwanted or expired household medication, including prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs and unused pharmaceuticals,” Rouse said.
“The collection site (located in the lobby of the Police Department) is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Rouse said. “Drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked.”
The Health Department contracted with MedReturn, LLC of Grafton, Wis. to provide and maintain the collection kiosk.
The environmental concern related to the improper disposal of drugs was raised by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection because prescription drugs disposed of with household trash were percolating through landfills and into the water table and aquifers which in many communities, such as Westfield, is a source of drinking water.
The collaborative program between the Health and Police departments was initiated in May as a means of establishing a permanent drug collection program. Prior to the city’s program, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration funded periodic collections through local police departments.
Rouse said that if a safe alternative is not available to the public, the usual options are either to flush unwanted drugs or include them with household trash and that both of those alternatives “are not technically prohibited but (they’re) very much frowned on” because, he said they are “not very environmentally responsible.”
Under the guidelines of the new collection program residents can dispose of the following: prescriptions, prescription patches, prescription ointments, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, drug samples and medications for pets.
A number of health-related items are not eligible for disposal at the collection box including, needles/sharps, thermometers, inhalers, hydrogen peroxide, non-prescription ointments, liquids or lotions, aerosol cans and medications from clinics or businesses.
The Health Department has a sharps collection kiosk at the Health Department offices in City Hall.
