Program to dispose of unused drugs

Hopedale Medical Complex recently announced a prescription drug disposal program it plans to start Jan. 3 as a way to fight prescription drug abuse by teens, and to keep the drugs from polluting local water supplies when they are flushed down the toilet.
According to Wendy Mobley, the head of the program, people can bring in their unneeded or expired prescription medications to the HMC pharmacy and the pharmacy will dispose of the drugs properly and safely for free.
“We’re taking them to Indianapolis to an energy plant that incinerates the drugs and turns it into energy to light peoples’ homes,” Mobley said. “We’re doing something environmentally friendly with it and getting it off the streets.”
Mobley said she got the idea for the program — which is called P2D2 — from pharmacies in other areas that started similar programs after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency started passing laws against flushing pills because of the effect it has on the environment.
According to a fact sheet published by the IEPA, “trace amounts of pharmaceutical-related chemicals” have been found in drinking water and it is believed to have been caused by the flushing of pills, while medications thrown in the garbage can leach into the soil. The IEPA recommends incinerating the pills, according to certain standards.
The other major aspect of the HMC program is to help keep teens and young adults from getting at these drugs and experimenting with them.
“I think the biggest importance is we’re not only trying to be environmentally friendly we’re also trying to help save kids from getting into bad situations,” Mobley said. “A growing problem is these ‘Skittles parties’ where kids go to medicine cabinets and raid the drugs in there and put them into a big bowl ... and then they take them to see what happens.”
She said a nearby high school had a recent problem with their students dong this, and she believes it could be going on in Hopedale as well.
The program will not include narcotics — meaning the pharmacy cannot legally accept any Oxycontin, Vicadin, Darvocet, Ativan and Xanax. However, Mobley said HMC is working with local law enforcement to put a program in place for narcotics.
As of yet, she said it is best for someone with unused narcotics to take them to the local police station for proper disposal. She said the Delavan police station even has a drop box for narcotics.