Unwanted meds to be collected for safe disposal Saturday

Expired medications and illegal drugs will be accepted anonymously and without question for safe disposal Saturday at Augusta Health in Fishersville.

“Our goal is more than 50,000 doses,” said Doug Holroyd, director of pharmacy services at the hospital. “To destroy meds in regular trash, it can either get into the water supply or into the hands of somebody you don’t want them to ... dogs ... kids.”

Operation Medicine Cabinet is the first program of its kind in the area, following the collection of 45,000 pills in May at Martha Jefferson Hospital in Charlottesville.

Those wishing to drop off pills will be able to stay in their vehicles with the assurance that their names will be blacked out on labels as pharmacists sort medications for incineration.

The program defends the water supply and could get medications out of homes where they might pose an addictive lure, officials said. Holroyd said clearing the medicine cabinet also cuts out confusion and ingestion of incorrect dosages.

“We know that people flush medications,” said Waynesboro City Councilwoman Lorie Smith, who helped organize the event and get locals governments on board for promotion. “They end up in our landfill or in our water system. We’re trying to curtail those behaviors.”

The program is six months in the making, Smith said.

Holroyd had to get approval from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration to host the event and Augusta County Sheriff’s Office deputies will be on hand to shepherd the drugs to an incinerator. Individuals disposing of controlled substances should not fear arrest, Holroyd said.

Smith described the drop process: drivers will toss medicine bottles into buckets that volunteers will take into a tent where pharmacists will cover the patient name and log all pill types. Organizers asked that medications be kept in original bottles, but nothing will be turned away, Smith said.

Pharmacists will also be on hand to answer questions.