Disposal locations for unwanted or expired prescription medications
Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office: 345 W. Second St., Dayton
Dayton Police Districts: 2721 Wayne Avenue; 931 Washington Street; 248 Salem Avenue; 335 W. Third Street.
Centerville Police Department, 155 W. Spring Valley Rd.
Miami Township Police Department, 2660 Lyons Rd.
Butler Township Police Department, 8526 N. Dixie Dr.
Miamisburg Police Department, 10 N. First St.
German Township Police Department, 12102 St. Rt. 725
Brookville Police Department, 301 Sycamore St.
Montgomery County Drug Overdoes By the Numbers
1 person dies every three days from an accidental drug overdose.
1 hospitalization occurs every other day from accidental drug overdose.
9 Emergency department visits occur every week from accidental drug overdose.
127 Overdoes in 2010
130 Overdoes in 2011
137 Overdoes from January through mid-November 2012.
Dayton police and Montgomery County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Metal Health Services Board are teaming up to put drop boxes for the disposal of unwanted or expired prescription medications around the city.
“The drop-off sites are secure and confidential,” Dayton Police Chief Richard Biehl said. “Our goal is to keep these drugs out of the hands of people who will misuse or sell them on the street.”
Montgomery County faces an epidemic with people abusing, becoming addicted to and overdosing from prescription medications, Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of Montgomery County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services said. One person dies every three days from an accidental drug overdose, she said.
The problem isn’t unique to Montgomery County. Across America young people, ages 12 to 17, have made prescription drugs the number one substance for abuse in their age group, Jones-Kelley said.
“That supply not surprisingly is coming from the medicine cabinets of their parents, grandparents and friends,” Jones-Kelley said.
Dayton residents may use the drop boxes to dispose of controlled substances such as those used to treat pain, anxiety or attention deficit disorder; non-controlled prescription medications prescribed to treat medical conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes; over-the-counter drugs, vitamins, syrups, ointments, creams, lotions and inhalers.
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Second Street has had a drop box for about a year as have a number of suburban police departments around the county.
Before dropping off a prescription bottle, residents are asked to remove the labels to protect their privacy. When the drop boxes are emptied, the drugs will be incinerated.
Items not eligible for the drop box include: needles, syringes, thermometers, medical waste, aerosol cans, chemicals, and disinfectants such as hydrogen peroxide.
Three of Dayton’s steel boxes cost $800 each and were obtained through the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators. An additional free box came from the Ohio Prescription Drug Drop Box Program.
“Nationally, drug overdoses now kill more people than car crashes. It’s imperative we get them out of our homes,” Jones-Kelley said.
Old medications should never be down the toilet or drain because it can be harmful to the environment, Jones-Kelley said.
U.S. EPA research shows that pharmaceutical and personal care products can be found in any body of water where raw or treated sewage is discharged, including rivers, streams, groundwater and many drinking water sources.
Low levels of prescription drugs and personal care products have been detected in local rivers and streams and in the Great Miami Buried Aquifer, the drinking water sources for 1.6 million residents of this region, according to testing by the Miami Conservancy District.
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