Volunteers collect prescriptions in ‘take-back’ event

One site collected 6,300 pills.

By Celia Ampel

Published Nov. 9, 2010

Thousands of prescription drugs were dropped off Saturday at various locations throughout Boone County as part of an effort to raise awareness about prescription drug abuse.

“The main point is just to keep them off the street,” said Radhika Poreddy, a volunteer at the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital’s drug take-back location.

The event, a collaboration between the Youth Community Coalition, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, MU Police Department and several other local law enforcement agencies, also aimed to educate people about the proper disposal of old prescription medicines.

“Used to be, people just flushed them down the toilet,” Major Tom Reddin of the sheriff’s department said. “Well, that is not recommended.”

In order to prevent the pollution of streams and waterways, the sheriff’s department disposed of the collected medicines using a procedure recommended by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. Deputies put the drugs in large plastic buckets and mixed them with water, kitty litter, coffee grounds and carbonated soft drinks.

The sheriff’s department then sealed the lids of the containers and disposed of them in Columbia’s city landfill. The landfill is lined, so the waste will not leak into the surrounding environment, Reddin said.

Anyone wishing to drop off prescriptions needed to be 18 years old, show a photo ID and sign a release form.

“It only takes probably about three minutes to drop them off,” Youth Community Coalition Assistant Coordinator Ryan Worley said.

Volunteers at each of the eight locations recorded the number and type of all the pills they collected as part of an inventory to be given to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department. The signed release forms cannot be connected to the information recorded about the drugs.

“There’s nothing to tie anything to any person,” Worley said.

Law enforcement officials present at each location marked out personal information on prescription bottles using black markers.

The volunteers offered handouts and magnets about the proper disposal of prescription drugs and the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

Prescription Take Back Day is a proactive measure, as prescription drug abuse is not widespread in Boone County, Worley said. But, he said the county has had a problem with college students abusing Adderall and there have been prescription-drug-related tragedies in the area.

“In 2008, we actually had two deaths in Boone County of kids who overdosed on prescription drugs,” Worley said.

Prescription drug abuse among teens has become more of an issue for Boone County in recent years, Reddin said.

“It’s been seen, unfortunately, quite frequently in the schools,” he said.

Rather than obtaining drugs from dealers, youth are often able to take prescription medicine from drawers and cabinets at home, Reddin said.

The first Boone County Prescription Take Back Day was held June 12 and had a large turnout.

“We had over 43,000 pills collected,” Worley said.

The partnering agencies conducting Prescription Take Back Day intend to hold three or four events per year. The eventual goal is a fluid process for people to dispose of prescription drugs throughout the year, Worley said.

If people want to dispose of prescription medicines themselves, they can put old pills in an empty detergent bottle and mix them with the materials suggested by the Department of Natural Resources, Reddin said. For anyone whose garbage goes to the city of Columbia’s landfill, the detergent bottle can be thrown in the trash.

Volunteers at the Veterans Hospital collected about 6,300 pills and liquid medications, Poreddy said.

Many of the pills collected were over-the-counter medicines, but people also dropped off habit-forming drugs like Percocet, Adderall and codeine. No one attempted to turn in controlled substances, but there was a case of used razor blades and a prescription bottle containing a single tooth.

“You never know what you’re going to get at a prescription take-back event,” L. Stephen Gaither, the hospital’s public affairs officer, said.