A4 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 2016
COMMUNITY
Carlson Drug adds dropbox for unused medications
By JADE McDOWELL
Staff Writer
Area residents will
have a safer option for
disposing of unused medi-
cations in 2017.
Carlson Drug, 821
Sixth Street, Umatilla,
is adding a secure met-
al dropbox where peo-
ple can get rid of unused
or expired medications.
The Umatilla Police De-
partment procured the
dropbox with grant fund-
ing from Good Shepherd
Community Health Foun-
dation and in-kind help
from the city with instal-
lation.
The box will be avail-
able for use by the first of
the year.
Cathy Putnam, own-
er of Carlson Drug, said
people are always asking
her how they can safely
dispose of the rest of their
prescription once they no
longer need the drugs they
were taking.
“We get calls every
day,” she said.
The large metal drop-
box — similar to the blue
mailboxes in front of a
post office — will be bolt-
ed securely to the ground,
locked and placed under
the watchful eye of phar-
macy employees. Depos-
ited medications are then
sealed up and given to a
company that disposes of
them using methods that
keep contaminants from
entering the water sup-
ply or posing other health
risks.
“We don’t have to
touch anything, which
makes it safe for every-
one,” Putnam said.
Syringes and illegal
drugs will not be accepted.
Darla Huxel, Umatil-
la police chief, said in an
email that it was unusual
for a dropbox to be pro-
vided outside of a police
station but Putnam was
willing to work with the
Drug Enforcement Ad-
ministration to provide the
proper security measures
to allow for the exception.
“I wanted to provide an
opportunity for the people
in our community to have
access to the drop box
without having to go to
Hermiston Police Depart-
ment,” she said.
Liz Marvin, board chair
for the Good Shepherd
Community Health Foun-
dation, said prescription
painkillers and other dan-
gerous prescription med-
ications are often stolen
from medicine cabinets,
so the sooner people can
get rid of their unused por-
tions of prescriptions, the
better.
“It’s really a public
safety thing,” she said.
According to the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services, an aver-
age of 78 people per day
die of an opioid overdose,
including heroin and pre-
scription painkillers. Ear-
lier this month, President
Barack Obama signed
into law the 21st Century
Cures Act, which includes
a pledge to distribute $1
billion to the states to fund
opioid abuse prevention
and treatment programs.
Putnam said there are
methods for safely dis-
posing of drugs that she
shares with her custom-
ers, but many people have
said they feel better let-
ting someone else handle
it. For home disposal, the
Food and Drug Adminis-
tration recommends mix-
ing the medications with
an unpalatable substance
like kitty litter or used cof-
fee grounds and sealing
them in a plastic bag be-
fore throwing them away.
The FDA’s website has
a list of drugs that are ap-
proved for flushing down
the toilet, but the practice
is generally discouraged
because it can contami-
nate the water supply and
hurt the environment.
Each April and Septem-
ber the Drug Enforcement
Agency hosts national
drug take-back days, and
the Hermiston Police De-
partment and Pendleton
Police Department also
have dropboxes in their
lobbies where pills and
patches can be dropped off
with no questions asked.
———
Contact Jade McDow-
ell at 541-564-4536.
STAFF PHOTO BY JADE McDOWELL
Liz Marvin, left, and Cathy Putnam
show off a new medication disposal
dropbox at Carlson Drug in
Umatilla.
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