Sean C. Morgan
At the Fourth Annual Jim Bean Public Safety Fair, the Sweet Home Police Department announced that residents can now drop off old prescription drugs all day every day.
The U.S. Postal Service donated a damaged mailbox to the department, said Community Services Specialist Gina Riley. Sweet Home Public Works repaired it, Oregon Powder painted it, and Xtreme Graphics of Albany provided graphics of prescription drugs to cover the mailbox.
The department received 9.5 pounds of drugs at the 2010 Public Safety Fair, its first collection effort, Riley said. This year there was “definite improvement” in the response as it collected 26 pounds.
Medications sit in medicine cabinets, and people forget about them, Riley said. “And Linn County is not exempt from teenage use of drugs.”
Medicines in cabinets and prescription holders can be accessed by anyone, Riley said, not just teens.
The best thing to do with the drugs is to get rid of them, she said, but they shouldn’t be flushed into the sewer system or taken to landfills. Drugs collected by the department are taken to an incinerator in Brooks, where they are completely destroyed.
SHPD can take over-the-counter and prescription drugs, Riley said. Needles, lancets and narcotics should not be placed in the box.
SHPD is listed as an official drop site with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Riley said. Until now, Albany was the closest site.
The Sweet Home drop is available 24 hours per day, seven days a week, and it’s anonymous.