Pierce County, Washington Police pleased with response to prescription drug return program (P2D2)

After hundreds of pounds of medication were safely turned over Saturday during Prescription Drug Take Back Day, local law enforcement agencies are looking to make the program permanent.
STACIA GLENN; STAFF WRITER
Published: 09/29/1012:05 am | Updated: 09/29/10 3:28 am
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After hundreds of pounds of medication were safely turned over Saturday during Prescription Drug Take Back Day, local law enforcement agencies are looking to make the program permanent.
Several departments participated in the national program that set up 2,700 collection sites and encouraged people to anonymously drop off unwanted antibiotics, antidepressants and whatever else was languishing in their medicine cabinets.
During a four-hour span Saturday, a steady stream of residents dropped pill bottles in locked boxes.
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department set out containers in University Place and South Hill. The public filled two boxes weighing 611/2 pounds in South Hill and four boxes weighing 1671/2 pounds in University Place.
“The results show the need for this kind of effort,” Sheriff Paul Pastor said. “Prescription drugs are increasingly subject to abuse and when misused have the ability to ruin neighborhoods, families and individual lives.”
The department is researching possible security issues and how other agencies have handled the Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Program (P2D2), but hope to make drop-off boxes available year-round.
Puyallup police Lt. Dave McDonald said the program, which started there at the beginning of the year, has been a great success.
About 160 pounds of prescription drugs were safely deposited in their lobby before the federal Drug Enforcement Agency-sponsored event. Another 68 pounds of medication were dropped off Saturday by residents, many of whom told officers they stopped on their way to the Puyallup Fair.
“This all comes about because of the same concern about keeping drugs out of the hands of children, keeping drugs from being stolen and abused by drug addicts, and keeping our streams and waterways free of the drugs,” McDonald said.
Many people flush their expired or unwanted drugs down the toilet, increasing the chance that the drugs end up in our water supply, he explained.
The pills – and their containers – are incinerated after they are dropped off at police stations, along with other narcotics seized by police as evidence during unrelated investigations.
Kent police, who gathered 178 pounds of prescription medication during Saturday’s event, said they hope to sponsor another day in the near future.
Tacoma police did not participate in the event because it set up prescription drug collection containers at its headquarters and four of the police substations in August. The secure containers were provided by the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department.
“We already had the boxes in place and had already started our own disposal program,” police spokesman Mark Fulghum said. “The plan is to keep them here. We want people to know they can do it anytime throughout the year.”
Staff writer Stacey Mulick contributed to this report.


Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/09/29/1360669/police-pleased-with-prescription.html#ixzz10vIHpZYv