Riverside Police Chief Supports Free Pharmaceutical Collection Site Ordinance Proposal

Submitted by the Riverside Police Department.

Riverside, IL — Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel has sent a letter to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle supporting the proposed Cook County Ordinance 16-1983 to implement a producer – funded program for creating safe, free and accessible pharmaceutical collection sites.

In Riverside, police have held several collection site days where residents were invited to drop off unused prescription drugs in the police department's lobby. Over the past two years, police have collected over 123 pounds of unwanted prescription medication. 

The difficult part of this collection day is having to pay officers overtime, as well as paying for the collection and disposal of the medications. In the past, the Riverside Police Department has partnered with either the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) or the Cook County Sheriff's Police.

Just this past year, the Riverside Police Department was awarded a $5,000 grant from the CVS Pharmacy Corporation. The department received a pharmaceutical distribution drop-off site box. This box, which is used for the disposal of pharmaceuticals, has yet to be deployed in the police department as it is too expensive to operate, despite having received this grant. It costs the department man hours and disposal dollars to properly and legally dispose of the medications. The grant amount is not high enough to cover them.

Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel stated, "It is a shame that the department was able to receive a $5,000 grant and has not been able to use the device thus far. In my letter to President Preckwinkle, I wanted her to know that I fully support a pharmaceutical company funded prescription drug program which has been successfully implemented in the States of California and Washington. I strongly urge the county board to adopt and pass this ordinance as abuse of prescription drugs, specifically opiates, is on the rise and abuse of these drugs is affecting every single community in Cook County and the State of Illinois.”