Impact

Berks campus joins the Berks County Pharmaceutical Drop Box Program

Senior Amanda L. Gonzalez-Ortiz, a security and risk analysis major, drops off her outdated prescription medication in the pharmaceutical drop box located at Penn State Berks. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

On Monday, Aug. 12, in the Perkins Student Center, Penn State Berks Campus Police Department joined the Berks County Pharmaceutical Drop Box Program. District Attorney John T. Adams made the announcement along with a presentment of a pharmaceutical drop box, which will be secured in the lobby of the Perkins Student Center. The district attorney was joined by officials from Penn State, the Council of Chemical Abuse (COCA) and Berks County Solid Waste Authority.

On March 7, Adams announced the launching of the Berks County Pharmaceutical Drop Box Program in Berks County at the Berks County Agriculture Center. This program was developed as a cooperative effort between the district attorney’s office, COCA, and Berks County Solid Waste Authority. Currently, the Berks County Solid Waste Authority, in conjunction with the Berks County district attorney’s detectives, offers pharmaceutical collection twice a year. During these scheduled collections, unwanted and expired medications -- both prescription and over the counter -- are collected for incineration. Medications in many forms -- tablet, liquid, ointment, inhaler, powder or patch -- are collected

This new pharmaceutical/medication drop box disposal program will allow Berks County residents to discard unused or unwanted medication year-round at secure locations.

The initiation of this program provides numerous benefits to the community. These benefits include:• An opportunity to educate the community about the dangers these medications pose, if left unwanted in homes or improperly discarded.• A positive connection between Berks County citizens, the township police departments, the District Attorney’s Office, the Council on Chemical Abuse and Berks County Solid Waste Authority.• A decrease of water contamination due to pharmaceutical medications being flushed down the drains in our homes, or contained in our landfills.• A reduction of access to addictive medications for accidental or intentional misuse by children or others in the home.

Each drop box is securely placed and locked within a township municipal police building where it can be protected. These drop boxes resemble a United States Postal Service mailbox, whereas there is an open door to collect medications, but once dropped they cannot be retrieved. Each box also will have a separate locked entry for district attorney detectives to retrieve the discarded medications. Inventoried medications will be incinerated at the discretion of the detectives and solid waste authority.The following is a list of Pennsylvania police departments and locations that are participating in the program:

• Amity Police Department, 2004 Weavertown Road, Douglassville• Bern Twp. Police Department, 1069 Old Bernville Rd., Bern Twp.• Birdsboro Police Department, 200 East Main Street, Birdsboro• Brecknock Police Department, 889 Alleghenyville Road, Mohnton• Caernarvon Twp. Police Department, 3307 Main St., Morgantown• Central Berks Regional P.D., 2147 Perkiomen Ave., Mt. Penn• Berks County Detectives, Berks Co. Agriculture Center, 1238 Welfare Rd., Leesport• Exeter Twp. Police Department, 4975 DeMoss Rd., Exeter Twp.• Fleetwood Police Department 110 West Arch St., Fleetwood• Kutztown Police Department, 45 Railroad St., Kutztown• Muhlenberg Police Department, 5401 Leesport Ave., Muhlenberg Twp.• Sinking Spring Police Department, 3940 Penn Ave., Sinking Spring• Spring Twp. Police Department, 2800 Shillington Rd., Sinking Spring• Western Berks Regional P.D., 100 N. Reber Street, Wernersville• Reading Police Department, 815 Washington Street, Reading• Tulpehocken Police Department, 22 Rehrersberg Road, Rehrersberg

Last Updated August 29, 2013

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