Jim Fair
Project RX Drop Box opened its first permanent 24/7 drug disposal box at Greer Memorial Hospital.
Jim Fair
Devon Dixon of the Greenville Memorial Hospital police department said the RX Drop Box has been a big success at its location.
Donna Bennett of Taylors asked if the drop box was available on Sunday. She wanted to safely dispose of unused medicine that remained after the death of her mother. “We get our prescriptions from Rite Aid and they wouldn’t take them,” Bennett said. “It was the same thing when my father died.”
Bennett was at Greer Memorial listening to officials promoting the first permanent drug disposal bin in Greer, in partnership with Greenville Health System and the Carolina Center for Behavioral Health.
This box will be the third installed by Project Rx at a GHS hospital. The coalition – GHS, ReWa, and Carolina Center for Behavioral Health – installed the first permanent drop-box at Greenville Memorial Hospital in spring 2016, and has collected approximately 625 pounds of medication since its installation. One is planned for Hillcrest Memorial Hospital in Simpsonville.
Only hospitals with 24-hour police presence can have a drop box.
The drop-box is a free, secure, anonymous service that provides the safest way to dispose of unwanted or expired medication. The collection site will accept unwanted or expired prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements, and veterinary medications from households only. Needles or syringes will not be accepted.
Greenville Health System (GHS) Police and local law enforcement oversee proper disposal of the medication through incineration.
A greater Greer Rite-Aid pharmacy worker said its store offers customers an envelope, costing the consumer $4.95, to put their unused medicine in. It will then be mailed to a disposal site. Customers are also referred to the Take Back Drugs initiatives or police departments. The Greer Police Department has a drop box for unused medicine inside its lobby.
Year-round drop box availability allows individuals to dispose of prescription medications at their own convenience, keeping drugs out of waterways and the hands of children or those who may misuse them.
“It help remove unused medicine from people’s homes and prevents getting them in the hands of the wrong people,” Capt. Matt Hamby, Greer Police Department, said of the hospital drop box.