Effective today, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office will no longer take back prescription medications from the public, citing increased demands on staff time.
Previously, three sheriff’s office locations around the county would take any unused or unneeded medication off residents’ hands for safe disposal.
“This decision is in line with our need to shed services in light of our limited staffing,” Undersheriff Mike Cooke said in a news release from the office. “We need to give our employees the opportunity to do their core jobs really well, especially in this case, where the private sector now provides resources to dispose of unused medications.”
Deputies, along with evidence and other support staff, often spent hours packing and disposing of unused medication, according to the sheriff’s office.
Private services and other public agencies will still accept excess or unwanted medication for disposal.
The Battle Ground, La Center, Ridgefield, Washougal and Camas police departments will all accept drugs for discarding, along with controlled substances.
The individual agencies’ specifics as far as what they’ll take and how vary, but they’ll all take prescription medications any time during business hours. Contact each agency to learn more.
The Vancouver Police Department’s West Precinct building, at 2800 N.E. Stapleton Road, usually takes unwanted drugs, but that service is suspended during building remodel work. The East Precinct building will still accept unwanted drugs.
Many pharmacies also will take back prescription drugs.
For more information about safely disposing of medications, visit www.takebackyourmeds.org.
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Updated: Clarifies that the Vancouver Police Department is still taking unwanted drugs at its East Precinct location.
