Prescription Drug Drop Off

The Willoughby Hills Police Department, in cooperation with the Lake County Health District, is now a collection site where residents can bring their unwanted and expired prescriptions, cold/flu medications, pain relievers, pet medications, vitamins, creams, cough syrups, pills and prescription pain killers for safe disposal.

This effort was created to address many concerns we all have with unused prescription and non-prescription medications in our homes. Today almost 7 million Americans are abusing controlled substances, a number far greater than those abusing illegal drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Prescription pain relievers are the new drug of choice vs marijuana, and facts make it clear that pain killers cause more overdose deaths than cocaine. Alarming is the fact that 1 in 10 high school seniors are abusing prescription pain killers. By removing these from our medicine cabinets we will reduce drug abuse and accidental misuse.

Why not flush them down the toilet as we were once told to do?  Both prescription and non-prescription drugs are being found in our rivers, streams and ground water. They are contaminating our water supplies. Further, our waste water treatment plants and septic systems are not designed to remove such contaminants. We can reduce this exposure by taking our unused medications to the drop off box located in the lobby of our police department.  

To help maintain privacy, residents should remove or black out the personal information on pharmacy labels and leave the medicines in the original package or container. Residents are advised that absolutely no needles or syringes are permitted in these bins.

You’ll find the prominently marked pharmaceutical drop box in our police department lobby located in City Hall, at 35405 Chardon Road.  Simply place the unused medications in the slot, there are no forms to fill out, no questions asked - it only takes a minute.  Of course, our police facility is open 24 hours per day, seven days per week.  

 For more information on the proper disposal  of drugs, see the Lake County General health District website