Bring Your Old Drugs to Abington, Anytime

If you’ve got some old prescription drugs taking up valuable real estate in your cabinet, take them to Abington.

The Abington Police Department recently received one of 10 permanent prescription drug collection boxes placed in Montgomery County. The green, mailbox-like container sits in the vestibule off of the lobby near the records room and is accessible to people 24/7, according to Abington Police Deputy Chief John Livingood. 

“If someone comes in later tonight to the records room, and that’s closed, they can go across to the operations center, push a button and say, ‘I’ve got drugs,’ and they’ll come out and let them in,” Livingood said.

The drugs are taken no-questions-asked.

What’s accepted:

• Prescriptions
• Prescription patches
• Prescription ointments
• Over-the-counter medications
• Vitamins
• Samples
• Pet medications

What’s not accepted:

• Needles
• Inhalers
• Thermometers
• Ointments, lotions or liquids

Livingood said the program is part of the Montgomery County Prescription Drug Disposal Program; he added that there is a very detailed evidence procedure when it comes to handling the drugs and that the drugs will likely be disposed of twice a year with the help of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The next disposal coincides with the DEA’s nationwide “Got Drugs?” drug take-back day, which happens April 27. Locally, it happens from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the police department.

Livingood said the last drug take-back event, which happened in autumn, yielded about 90 pounds of old or unused prescription drugs.

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said prescription drugs often find their way into the hands of young people, who hold “pharm parties,” in which they steal whatever drugs they can get their hands on from medicine cabinets.   

“Our law enforcement professionals recognize the steady growth of prescription drug abuse in the community, particularly among our youth,” Vetri Ferman said in a press release. “The only way to truly make an impact in reducing this epidemic of prescription drug addiction is to focus on prevention efforts.”