Drug collection program nets 172 pounds of meds

DELAWARE COUNTY

Drug drop boxes proving effective

Delaware County residents have turned in more than 172 pounds of medications over the last three weeks to help police keep the drugs away from youths and addicts.

Since the county installed 10 heavy-duty metal depositories in police stations and the government center, residents have anonymously disposed of hundreds of bottles of pills. County officials who introduced the drug drop boxes said that the medicines will be incinerated rather than ending up in the hands of people who abuse prescription painkillers or of teenagers who may be tempted to get high on their parents' prescription medications.

County spokeswoman Trisha Cofiell said the District Attorney's Office collected methadone, an opioid used to treat heroin addiction that is widely misused, and fentanyl, a drug used to treat cancer pain that is much more powerful than morphine, in the first three weeks of the program. They also found vitamins and birth control pills in the boxes.

The boxes are located in police stations in Darby, Haverford, Marple, Radnor, Ridley, Springfield, Tinicum, Upper Chichester, and Upper Darby Townships. - Julie Zauzmer