Gresham event diverts 500,000 pills from the flush

[depakid]

Vicodin, Darvocet and oxycodone were among 500,000 pills surrendered during a prescription drug collection event Saturday in Gresham. Police planned to incinerate the medications.
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The Gresham Police Department collected half a million pills by the end of a drug disposal event Saturday.

Dubbed "Operation Medicine Cabinet," at events around the country, the event in Gresham offered residents a safe place to ditch unwanted and expired prescription and and over-the-counter drug medication, no questions asked.

The purpose is two-fold: destroy prescription narcotics before they wind up in the hands of drug users, or in the water system.

In all, the police department collected 98 pounds of non-controlled prescription pills, or roughly 500,000 individual pills, about 20,000 controlled prescription pills, including oxycodone, hydrocodone, Vicodin, and other narcotics, and six pounds of insulin. Nearly 60 pounds of prescription liquids, salves, and lotions were also turned in and organizers planned to recycle another 60 pounds of prescription drug containers.

The event, organized by Legacy Mt. Hood Medical Center, the Greater Gresham Area Prevention Partnership, Veolia Water and the police department, mirrored others over the weekend in Washington, Idaho and California.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/11/gresham_event_diverts_500000_p.html

[Journeyman]

1. Regrettable (but understandable) that these can't be redistributed to the needy . . .

at least this keeps these poisons out of our landfills and away from our water systems. . .

[kestrel91316]

2. This is good. We dispose of all our expired meds by the following

procedures:

Liquids - poured into a ziploc bag with enough clay cat litter to completely absorb the liquid. Seal the bag, put inside a regular trash bag with the regular trash, and send to the landfill.

Solids - dissolve in water, then dispose of as for liquids.

To avoid unforseen chemical reactions, we do not mix meds when doing this.

[BeFree]

4. Pronlem

Dissolving the solids in water and then flushing has those chems ending up in the river.

Better to bury them in the backyard or landfill them.

[kestrel91316]

5. Not sure where you got the idea we FLUSH anything, lol.

Reread the post. It all gets incorporated into cat litter and landfilled.

[BeFree]

9. My bad.

Its not a pronlem. (sic) grin.

[PDJane]

3. OK, have a problem here..........

you don't have drug store disposal? I take expired and unused meds to the local Shopper's Drug Mart, and they take care of the disposal. Thats not the case??

[madokie]

6. I've got a shitpot full of pills that I won't be taking

but there is no place around here to dispose of them that I know of. So whats a person to do. At present I'm letting them pile up but somewhere sometime I'll have to do something with them.

[phantom power]

7. Hmm. Burn them in a pagan sacrifice?

[madokie]

8. Thats a thought,

maybe when they burn my stinking ass after, I hope, I die some of them will keep me eternally happy and high. Might make floating around and through the tree tops more pleasant :-)