Montgomery Co. looks to protect families, drinking water during Drug Take Back Day
NORRISTOWN, PA – Montgomery County officials will work to keep unused medications out of homes and out of drinking water on National Drug Take Back Day, Saturday, Oct. 28.
"I think about if something happened to him, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself," said Edward Farber about his one-year-old son. "Make sure they are not within his reach, but then also to make sure we have things out of the house that are not supposed to be in the house."
Farber is also the senior production supervisor at Pennsylvania American Water.
He said medications can hurt our health when disposed of improperly.
For example, antibiotics when thrown in the trash or flushed in the toilet.
"Once they find their way into the environment, then we are starting to get traces of them in our bodies, and then our bodies become resistant to the medication," Farber said. "And then, we have to get prescribed a stronger dose or something totally different to combat the illness."
That is why the company supports the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office Drug Take Back Day.
People can go to one of several locations and leave your old medications in special bins to be destroyed.
Acting Norristown Police Department Chief Michael Bishop said the bin at his department is available every day. So, he expected a big haul for Saturday.
"Probably between 35 and 50 pounds," Bishop said.
He said officers will collect the medications from the box Saturday afternoon before delivering them to Montgomery County investigators.
"Take it over the district attorney's office, turn it over to them. They take it over to the DEA and have it destroyed," Bishop said.
The county will take any tablets & capsules, inhalers, creams & ointments, nasal sprays, pet medications and vaping products, Including expired medical marijuana.
However, they will not take needles, liquid medications, or IV or injectable solutions.
Farber said bins like the one in Norristown can help make our homes and environment safer.
"We want to keep these materials, these pharmaceuticals, out of the waterways of the Commonwealth," Farber said.
The county says it is trying to make dropping off old medications easy. There is a bin in the lobby of the Norristown Police Department and there are others all over the county.
