HAVERHILL — Residents have dropped off thousands of pills in the lockbox in the police station lobby since it was installed late last year, Deputy Chief Donald Thompson said.
"I have to tell you it's really been a hit," Thompson said. "I mean thousands and thousands of pills."
The box, originally the idea of Council On Aging member Joel Berg, was installed so residents could drop off expired, unused or no longer needed prescription medications.
Thompson said some people using the box just deposit the pills in their prescription bottles, and others just pour the pills into plastic bags and drop the bags off.
"On average, we empty the box every other day, and sometimes twice in one day," Thompson said. "I never thought it would catch on the way it has."
Thompson said, in some cases, the medications come from families who are cleaning after someone has died.
"We've taken everything from baby aspirins to heavy-duty pain medication such as oxycodone," Thompson said. "They realize they have this stuff and they get rid of it."
He said Covanta in Ward Hill has agreed to take the pills and destroy them.
He said the city goes to the Covanta facility two or three times a year with drug evidence to be destroyed, but may have to make the trip more frequently with the addition of the drop-off box.
"We had a bigger box, but we thought it might be too big, so Chief (Alan) DeNaro had the smaller one installed," Thompson said. "We could have used the bigger box."
Police said Berg had heard about a similar program at the Danvers Police Department and suggested it for Haverhill.
Capt. Michael Wrenn, patrol commander, said the department did research on the program and decided to move forward.
The purpose of the program is twofold, Wrenn said.
First, it provides residents with a means of disposing of old or leftover prescription drugs, and second, it helps prevent the drugs from falling into the hands of young people.
"It's a safe way of doing it," Wrenn said.
It also provides a way of disposing of the drugs without flushing them down the toilet and having them end up in area groundwater, police said.
Needles and other sharp objects may not be disposed of in the box, but can be dropped off at the Citizens Center on Welcome Street for disposal, police said.
"It's been an unqualified success," Thompson said of the drop-off box.
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