News

Drop box aimed at keeping unused pills from kids

By Katie Curley Katzman
Staff writer
Published: November 16, 2009

NEWBURYPORT — Outdated prescription bottles or unused pills can be found in most homes, and they would seem harmless. But too often today, kids are seeing an unattended medicine cabinet as an easy way to get high.

Following a successful prescription drop-off site in Seabrook, Newburyport is joining the trend.

Newburyport police have partnered with the Beacon Coalition and the health department to begin a program to allow people to dispose of unwanted or expired prescription drugs at the police station.

"The easiest place for youth to acquire drugs is in the medicine cabinets of their own home, relatives or the homes of their friends," Marshal Thomas Howard said. "Pharmaceuticals are the most abused, misappropriated, stolen drugs, and our goal is to dispose of them properly so that they stay out of the hands of our children."

Howard said that according to statistics he has seen, teens are using prescription and over-the-counter drugs more than any other drug, with the exception of marijuana.

"Every day, 2,500 youth age 12 to 17 abuse a pain reliever for the very first time," Howard said. "More teens abuse prescription drugs than any illicit drug except marijuana."

Howard said some teens believe prescription drugs are safer because they are given out by doctors, and those drugs don't carry the same set of consequences as street narcotic abuse.

In Seabrook, officer John Mounsey said the drop-off box located at the Liberty Lane station is often overflowing with prescription medications.

"So far, so good," Mounsey said of the program now in place a little over a month. "We have all sorts of prescriptions, from Oxycontin and Klonopin to heart medicine."

Mounsey said he receives questions on the street from out-of-town residents asking about the location of the drop box.

"I had a woman from Amesbury ask where she can drop off the prescriptions," Mounsey said. "People are coming from all over to drop their medicine off."

Mounsey said Seabrook police will never turn away people from other cities or towns.

"We don't care where they are from; we just want this stuff off the street," he said. "So far, it's too early to tell by statistics if this is making a difference, but the bin is always full."

Newburyport police have installed a secured drop-off box in the front lobby of the police station, which will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They hope to have a second drop-off box location at the James Steam Mill in the coming months, and if residents can't get to either location, police will pick up old prescriptions at their homes.

Police recommend peeling the labels off medicine bottles or pouring the actual medicine into a plastic bag and depositing the bag in the drop-off box.

Disposal of sharps — needles, syringes or lancets — used in home health care by people who have diabetes or other needs for them, is not permitted in the drop-off box.

To have an officer respond to your home or apartment, call the station at 978-465-4444 any time of day.