Through ‘take back’ program, Iowa law enforcement collects unused, expired drugs

In the last six months, the Linn County Sheriff’s Office has collected 428 pounds of unwanted or unused medication through its 24/7 medication drop box. Of that, 18.8 pounds was collected on Saturday Oct. 25, during the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s national Drug Take Back Day.

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The Gazette sat down with Major Chad Colston of the Linn County Sheriff’s Office to talk about the results of the Take Back Day and where people can dispose of unwanted medication, even now that the event is over.

Q: How often does the DEA host the drug Take Back Day?

A: “Every six months, April and October, with the exception … of 2020. We skipped April's and then did a year's worth of collection in October of 2020.”

Q: This time you collected almost 19 pounds of medication. Is that a pretty normal amount to collect during the take back event?

A: “Yeah. Years ago, it used to be a lot more. People, I think, paid attention to it. Sometimes it gets to be where we'll get 50 pounds or 60 pounds. It's kind of hit and miss. We used to try and take our show on the road a little bit. We used to try and get into the smaller communities, and do a setup, if they were having some type of festival during that weekend, or something going on in town that weekend, we would go to Center Point, Alburnett, Coggon, Central City, and we’d do the same thing there.

“Now, with all the drug drop boxes that we have around, it just seemed like every time we’d go out there, we wouldn't get hardly anything there. It’s harder and harder to get the word out to people, because you just don't know what media they're getting their information from … It just wasn't working as great.”

Q: When does the Take Back Day usually take place?

A: “We usually just do it on Saturday. It’s national, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on a Saturday in October and a Saturday in April … The fourth Saturday is what it usually falls on.”

Q: What is the main goal of the Take Back Day?

A: “The biggest deal, and the reason why we participate is this is the one way for us to get rid of this medicine ... I don't know where our nearest option is to incinerate the 400 pounds or 500 pounds that we get each six months. Where are we going to do that? That's going to be a cost, I'm guessing that. This is a great way for us to get rid of this stuff for free, and the federal government pays to have this stuff picked up, because we work with the DEA. They come by, they pick up our stuff, and they take it to an incinerator.”

Q: What do you do with the medication you collect during the six months between Take Back events?

A: “We collect that in the box, we save it, and we know in six months … we're going to get rid of it at that DEA take back event. Like I said, the year that we shut down because of COVID in 2020, that October, we ended up with 1,200 pounds for the year.

“We just store it in a secure area, and we just have bags or boxes of stuff that we end up having them pick it all up ... It's a relatively easy thing. Our dropbox sits right outside my window, and I see people drive up to it every day and put stuff in there.”

Q: What medications do you accept, and what do you not accept?

A: “We will accept over the counter medicines that may be expired. We get any prescription meds. What gets brought in to us is just about anything. We'll take liquids, as long as the caps are secured and in their bottles. The biggest things that we won't accept is we won't accept needles, and we won't accept inhalers, because inhalers, when they get incinerated — because they're an aerosol — tend to go boom.

“So, we don't accept inhalers or anything along those lines. It's all stuff that we can easily, well, that the DEA can easily incinerate for us, and safely incinerate for us.”

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Q: What’s the danger of expired or prescription medication not getting turned in?

A: “If they throw them in the trash, I suppose there's an environmental hazard depending on where they go, whether they leach into the groundwater, leach into the ground.

“We’re just trying to get these medicines disposed of properly, so that they're not getting in the hands of the wrong people, or people aren't going medicine cabinet diving and stealing the stuff that they know is a narcotic or something that is a stimulant. We don't want those on the streets. We have enough problems with drugs on the streets now. If we can avoid some of this and avoid some of the overdoses that we're seeing, that's always a good thing.”

Q: Where can people drop off their medications when it’s not the Take Back Day?

A: “Most police departments and police agencies have drop boxes, now. Pharmacies have drop boxes. They're another place that people can go to if they don't want to come down to the sheriff's office.”

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com