Northfield Among State Leaders in Safe Medication Disposal

Rice County’s “Take it to the Box” program is leading the charge against prescription drug misuse and improper medication disposal.

“With rising prescription misuse concerns, programs like this are an important piece of a larger community plan to reduce substance abuse,” said Zach Pruitt, staff liaison for the Northfield Mayor’s Task Force on Youth Alcohol and Drug Use.

Four years ago, Joan Janusz and Mary Nelson, members of the Mayor’s Task Force, took on the challenge of researching and coordinating a program for medication disposal. Take it to the Box launched September 2009.

The program is the result of a collaboration between the Mayor’s Task Force, the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition and Rice County law enforcement.

Take it to the Box allows Rice County residents to dispose of their prescriptions safely and free of charge 24 hours a day. Medication disposal boxes are located in the lobbies of the Northfield and Faribault police stations. 

The program accepts prescription and non-prescription medications. The disposal boxes are emptied daily by Rice County law enforcement officials and collected by an environmental disposal company for state-licensed disposal every six weeks.

So far, the county has collected approximately 6,000 pounds of medication, said Pruitt.

Northfield alone has collected 130 pounds of DEA controlled substances, the type of medication most frequently misused, said Mark Taylor, director of Public Safety for the City of Northfield.

Closing the Gateway

Preventing substance abuse is a high priority for Northfield law enforcement.

The community has a history with heroin usage, and prescription medications are a gateway drug to heroin, said Taylor.

Medications that are improperly disposed can also have environmental repercussions, such as affecting water treatment.

Nevertheless, improper medication disposal remains a common occurrence, according to Taylor. Most people throw their prescriptions in the trash, flush them down the toilet or simply keep them long after they’re needed. There are no legal ramifications for improper disposal.

Northern Origins

Rice County’s program has proven successful, but Take it to the Box wasn’t the first of its kind in Minnesota. 

Duluth’s Western Lake Superior Sanitary District started a quarterly medication collection event in 2006, said Jennifer Volkman, the statewide Household Hazardous Waste program coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The following year, Chisago County pioneered the Unwanted Medication Disposal Program, the state's first permanent medication disposal program and the inspiration for Take it to the Box.

Safe Disposal, Statewide

Since launching Take it to the Box, Rice County has made an effort to spread the message of safe medication disposal. 

Last year, Take it to the Box held an open house, which was attended by approximately 50 law enforcement professionals from across the state.

“We thought we should share how successful our program has been,” said Taylor.

Today, over 25 counties have adopted the “Take it to the Box” slogan, according to Volkman. The state now hosts more than 80 prescription disposal sites, the majority of which are permanent.

Although these programs have been instituted too recently for statistics to be collected, Volkman says that they are considered to be very successful. They have raised public awareness about the consequences of improper prescription disposal, with Rice County leading the state as one of the earliest programs.

“Northfield was definitely in there as one of those that initiated collection,” said Volkman.

Rice County’s program has been so successful that last summer, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency updated the county’s Take it to the Box materials to make them suitable for statewide distribution. 

The state now offers technical assistance, marketing tools and workshops for law enforcement professionals interested in establishing a medication disposal site.