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March 29, 2024 1:40 am
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Medication Disposal Box Available At Local Metro Station

The lobby at the Overton Metro Police substation is now equipped with a secure medication disposal box where local residents can deposit expired or unused prescription drugs.

By Vernon Robison

Moapa Valley Progress

A medication disposal box has been installed at the Overton Metro Police substation at 320 N. Moapa Valley Blvd. Located just inside in the substation entryway, the secure box provides a place for the anonymous disposal of unused or expired prescription drugs.

Officials said that the boxes will help keep prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands, being sold illegally or contaminating local water supplies from improper disposal.

The box was placed in the Overton substation, in part, to answer requests from local residents for a safe, environmentally friendly way to dispose of their unused or expired prescriptions, according to local Metro Sergeant Bret Empey.

“In the last couple or years we have held town meetings at the high school trying to educate parents on the problem we have with prescription drug abuse in the community,” Empey said. “We have encouraged folks to get rid of old prescriptions from the home to prevent young people from doing stupid things. The trouble is, up to now, there wasn’t a very safe way to do that other than flushing them down the toilet.”

But that option doesn’t wash well with regional water reclamation authorities. According to Clark County Water Reclamation District (CCWRD) literature, when prescription or over-the-counter drugs are flushed down the sink or toilet, their chemical components may be added to the water supply or soil. The presence of these substances in the environment is emerging as an important national and international concern, officials said.

The CCWRD in partnership with the Clark County Commission set aside grant money to place the disposal boxes in several different Metro stations throughout southern Nevada. But local officers pushed to make sure one of those boxes would be made available for local residents.

“Out here in Overton, the cause (to get this box here) was really taken up by Officer Nathan Bradford,” Empey said. “He really went to bat and made sure that one of the boxes made it out to this community. He even took care of installing the box in its location.”

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