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Ogden • While this city's police chief balks at the idea of a permanent prescription-drug drop box in the lobby of his public safety building, he found common ground with the City Council to administer a quarterly prescription drug-disposal program.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to provide residents with the quarterly events to get rid of their unused medications. Combined with the two semiannual National Prescription Drug Take Back days, people will now have six opportunities each year to safely clean house of substances that can lead someone to drug addiction or a deadly overdose.
"I'm in favor of whatever makes the council feel good" — in terms of public safety, Police Chief Jon Greiner said in a phone interview Tuesday. But there will be some costs associated with the new program, he added.
According to the joint resolution backed by both the administration and the council, Weber County ranks fourth in the state for prescription drug deaths and has seen a 500 percent increase in those numbers from 2000 to 2009.
Earlier this spring, Greiner voiced opposition to the permanent disposal boxes that several municipal police departments already use.
Greiner's concerns centered around the potential for sabotage, the need for constant monitoring and the possibility of stiff fines if federal guidelines are not followed.
A state Web site, http://www.medicationdisposal.utah.gov/permanentsites.htm, lists more than 65 law enforcement agencies across Utah that now have permanent disposal boxes.
But as Greiner sees it, federal law requires that individuals hand off their unused prescription drugs to a police officer, who would then place them in the drop box.
"We've been led to believe that putting a box in the lobby is OK," Greiner said, "but the only program the [Drug Enforcement Agency] has authorized is the semiannual take-back program."
A total of 6,551 pounds of pills and pharmaceuticals were collected statewide at the April 30 National Prescription Drug Take Back event, the second of its kind. Police departments then take the medications somewhere for incineration.
Mayor Matthew Godfrey recommended Tuesday that people follow FDA guidelines to safely dispose of their drugs as soon as possible.
"Even when [disposal events] are monthly, people are still saving their prescription drugs," Godfrey said, "and that's the whole problem."
The Web site, http://www.fda.gov/consumer,lists procedures for disposal, which vary with the type of drug.
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