Takeback day gets a steady response
Cpl. Doug Clutter, of the Campus & Public Safety department at Washington & Jefferson College, is concerned about environmental threats that unwanted drugs pose.
Unwanted drugs can be deposited in receptacles at a number of law-enforcement locales in the region - including this one at the South Strabane police station.
As far as Ryan Hoffman is concerned, every day is a drug takeback day in his department.
“We’ve had this container here every day for a couple of years,” the South Strabane patrolman said inside the township police offices. “Most people are readily aware of that, and we get a lot of response.”
That’s why a lukewarm public turnout for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day did not surprise the officer. “We’ve had nine come in,” Hoffman said in the early afternoon, about a half-hour before the collection ended.
The 12th annual event, targeted to take prescription medication off the street and to prevent it from threatening the environment, was conducted from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Participants could drop off expired, unused or unwanted medicine at no charge and will not be questioned about it.
Twenty locations in Washington County participated Saturday, most of them municipal police stations. So did Monongahela Valley Hospital and security units at the county’s two colleges, California University of Pennsylvania and Washington & Jefferson College. Peters police placed dropoff boxes at four township sites.
The boxes, in many instances, were dark blue metal receptacles called Med Return Drug Collection Units.
The opioid epidemic hit the county – and the nation – hard over the past few years. About 6.4 million Americans over age 12 abused prescription drugs in 2015, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, with many getting drugs from relatives or friends.
Local turnouts were mixed, according to a sampling of officials at participating venues.
Cpl. Doug Clutter, of the Campus & Public Safety department at Washington & Jefferson College, reported a brisk response during the morning. “I’ve been here for 30 minutes, and I’ve had four people come in,” he said during a rotation inside the office on North Lincoln Street. “We’ve had a lot of people call, asking for directions.”
His unit operates 24/7, and Clutter said after years of working nights, this was his first takeback day at W&J. He was impressed by the late-morning public response, and was moved to compassion by one individual.
“A gentleman came in with medication from his wife, who passed away six weeks ago,” he said. “It feels good to help these people out.”
The general concern related to unwanted prescription drugs is that, if in the wrong hands, can lead to or fuel addiction in others. Clutter said there is a larger matter.
“Environment is the issue, because it’s convenient to throw them into the garbage or flush them,” he said. “You don’t want these drugs going into a landfill, going into the water supply. They’ll be contaminated.”
Though he certainly didn’t dispute any ecological ramifications, patrolman Brady Pascoe of the North Franklin Township police called the takeback initiative “productive” largely because “it gets old pills off the street.”
His department, like that in South Strabane, has a receptacle for drug dropoffs. Pascoe said the number of people submitting medication is generally steady day by day.
Three stopped by before noon, he said Saturday. One person had a couple of shopping bags filled with prescription bottles. The others had small amounts.
Although the national day wasn’t an especially big day at the South Strabane dropoff, officer Hoffman said it was a barometer for something that works well.
“Most people appreciate this,” he said. “They like this program.”