Chill Pill, Tosa: Police Plead for Order in Medication Turn-in Program

The was deluged this week with residents dutifully turning in unused or outdated medications.

That was exactly the intention of a program conceived by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, and signed on to by a dozen area police departments, to keep medicines from being flushed into Lake Michigan.

Unfortunately, a notice published elsewhere about the program failed to include some important policies and guidelines, creating a migraine for the police and prompting them to ask that Patch please help remedy the situation.

All drugs turned in needed to be individually marked as to their type, in separate containers, and with prescription and over-the-counter drugs further segregated.

Instead, "We had people coming in with a shopping bag full of stuff all mixed together, miscellaneous pills, unmarked bottles," said Lt. Gerald Witkowski. "That isn't the way it was supposed to work."

Do's and don'ts of drug disposal program

The MMSD released the following guidelines for the program:

• Drug collections are open only to residents within their participating community.
• Medications should be kept in the original container.
• The owner's name may be crossed out the label for privacy reasons.
• The name of the medication should not be covered up or removed.
• Prescription and over-the-counter medications, including pet medicines and medicines in the form of ointments, spray, inhalers, creams, etc.
• Illegal drugs, needles or sharp objects, biohazardous materials including anything contaminated with blood or any other bodily fluid, personal care products that are not medications (soaps, lotions, sunscreens, etc.) and household hazardous wastes should not be brought and will not be accepted.

In the spirit of the ultimate purpose of the program – and so as to avoid having to turn away the well-meaning but misinformed – the Tosa police decided to be a bit more lenient and now say they will accept loose medications.

But they would appreciate it greatly if, as far as possible, residents would try to keep things separated and marked, even if not in original containers.

Most particularly, or at the very least, they want prescription and non-prescription drugs separated because they are inventoried and stored separately.

Here is the department's post-disorder prescription for turning in unwanted drugs:

• Accepts only medications turned in by a person with proper state- or county-issued identification; accepts no drugs brought in for others except family members.
• Accepts medications only from noon to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday.
• Accepts medications only if a property clerk or sworn officer is available to receive and inventory them.
• Accepts prescription medicines in the original containers, loose medications, over-the-counter medicines and pet medicines, in all forms (sprays, inhalers, etc.)
• Accepts no biohazards, same as MMSD guidelines.
• This is not an amnesty program: Turning in illegal drugs invalidates and vacates all the above and will result in a police investigation.