Across Alamance County, drop boxes for unused medications give residents consistent and convenient access to safe disposal options. Alamance Citizens for a Drug Free Community, an organization focused on preventing and reducing substance misuse within the community, have boxes stationed at the Mebane Police Department, the Burlington Police Department and the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office in Graham. In addition to these drop boxes, the organization also partners with local law enforcement at least twice a year to host medicine drop-off events, where residents can bring unused medications to be disposed of safely.
Karen Webb is the executive director of Alamance Citizens for a Drug Free Community and helps host the events.
“We want to get rid of them correctly,” Webb said. “We want to keep them out of the water system, our landfills and, out of reach of anybody who might misuse them either intentionally or unintentionally.”
Webb said the organization has hosted events like this since it was founded in 2009.
“Our focus is in prevention, in preventing substance misuse and in building community protective factors that mitigate the risk factors associated with substance misuse,” Webb said.
These collection events are part of a broader statewide and national effort to reduce access to potentially addictive medications such as painkillers or opioids that may otherwise fall into the wrong hands. According to a 2021 survey done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, an estimated 5.1% of people aged 12 or older reported misusing any prescription psychotherapeutic drug in the past 12 months. 3.1% of people 12 or older misused prescription pain relievers and 1.3% misused prescription stimulants.
Webb said the danger of leaving used medications around the house is far greater than most people expect, as the risk extends beyond adults. Elon sophomore and public health student Helene Orben echoed Webb’s message, saying that throughout her experience as a volunteer in hospitals and time as a health student she has learned the importance of safe medicine practices.
“These are the things that kill people,” Orben said. “Disposing of meds responsibly saves lives.”
Both Webb and Orben shared concerns about the risk old or unused medications may have on young children specifically.
“We want to keep kids away from medicines that might look like candy,” Webb said. “A toddler may see some pretty orange pills on the floor and think it’s candy and put it in their mouth.”
According to November 2024 North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services data, Alamance County alone had 188 emergency department or hospital visits for medication or drug overdose. Around 30% of these cases involved young adults between the ages of 25 and 34. Alamance County also recorded 266 deaths from 2019-23 due to poisoning mortality, which includes overdoses.
“Its hard seeing how many people are negatively affected by stuff like this,” Orben said, “Especially when a lot of those people are close to my age.”
Webb said that during the drop-off events, organizers maintain a “no questions asked” policy, hoping to encourage residents to dispose of their medications without fear or hesitation.
“We did have a steady stream of people coming through,” Webb said. “Some people were bringing us fairly large quantities of medicine.”
Webb said their most recent event, hosted Oct. 25, was a success. She said one couple at the event was disposing of medication they had been keeping in their house since 2017. Expired medicine can become extremely dangerous if ingested, according to America’s Poison Centers.
“We like to think we are making a difference,” Webb said. “We do have a lot of people, especially at these events, who come and say, ‘Thank you so much. This is a great opportunity.’”