District attorney urges residents to use county's DEA take‑back sites; 138,000 pounds of pills taken since program began

Montgomery County’s district attorney on Oct. 23 urged residents to bring unused medications to the county’s drug take‑back collection sites on Oct. 25 and described the scale of the county program, which he said has removed roughly 138,000 pounds of medication since its inception.

The district attorney, speaking at the board’s meeting, said this year’s event would involve 37 police departments and several supermarket drop‑off points including major grocery stores and Wegmans locations. "These happen twice a year," he said. "Since we started doing this ... our total count since we started doing this ... 138,000 pounds of pills." He added that April’s take‑back collected 6,853 pounds and October 2024 collected 5,584 pounds.

He described the public‑health rationale: tablets and capsules left in medicine cabinets are commonly diverted, can be accessed by children and can become the start of substance misuse. The take‑back sites accept tablets and capsules and many departments maintain year‑round pill boxes available 24/7, he said. Collected material is transported securely and destroyed by incineration under a county contract.

The district attorney emphasized collaboration with law enforcement, the DEA and local communities. He said last year the county reported a 27% decrease in overdose deaths compared with a prior period but underscored that overdose fatalities remain higher than acceptable: "We lose more people, each year, to overdoses than we are car crashes or homicides," he said.

County officials asked the public to avoid flushing medications and to use designated disposal points. The district attorney said posters and outreach material would be distributed and that agencies coordinate to collect, transport and incinerate the material securely.