On Oct. 26, the Schacht Center for Health and Wellness hosted the Smith Community Drug Take-Back Day offering students, faculty and staff a safe and anonymous way to dispose of expired or unneeded medications.
Participants could drop off prescription and non-prescription drugs, veterinary medications, vitamins and sealed liquid medications. The medications would then be turned over to the Hampshire County Sheriff’s Department who coordinates with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to ensure the medications are safely incinerated.
The Drug Take-Back Day was a part of a nationwide initiative led by the DEA, which set up nearly 4,000 collection sites around the country to encourage proper medication disposal.
Kaitlin Rooks, Director of Medical Operations, said Smith partnered with the program to provide students with a convenient location to dispose of their unneeded medications.
“We wanted students to be able to dispose of medications while they are at school, and it’s often difficult to get off campus to go to a local pharmacy to find a drug disposal box, and often they’re full,” said Rooks.
Rooks added that the Take-Back Day prevents improperly disposed of medications from harming the local environment.
“You’re really not supposed to just flush drugs down the drain,” she said. “This prevents drugs from going down the drain and affecting fish and wildlife.”
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, flushing medications down the drain can lead to increased pollution in rivers and streams. Common medications can lead to genetic and cellular damage in fish and other aquatic organisms when found in bodies of water.
Campus Safety assisted the event to ensure the safe disposal of the medications.
“We don’t even touch the box once it’s set up other than to seal the box so it can be transported to the destruction site,” said Campus Safety Lieutenant Steve Mish.
For many participants, the event provided a sense of reassurance and convenience.
“I’ve always heard from pharmacies and from doctors that you should dispose of your drugs, especially if they expire, through a reliable venue,” said Diana Martinez ’27. “And so I saw that there was a drug take back, and I thought, okay, they’re doing it kind of like a safe way, so why not do it?”
