Drop Off Old Medicine at Duke Hospital Thursday

Duke and Durham community members are invited to drop off expired or unused medications at Duke Hospital locations on March 19.Operation Medicine Drop, a statewide initiative organized by Safe Kids North Carolina, the Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement, safely collects and destroys these medicines to prevent crime, drug overdose and misuse, and to keep discarded medications from getting in the water supply. Last year, Duke’s drop-off sites collected 15.6 pounds of medications, said Eric Hester, crime prevention officer for Duke Police. Statewide, more than 8 million doses were collected, and the most commonly dropped off medications were painkillers Hydrocodone and Oxycodone.“It’s a very safe way of disposing your medications,” Hester said. “We provide a way so that it doesn’t get in the hands of the wrong people and in our waterways.”A table with volunteers will be set up to collect medications on March 19 at the Duke Hospital North Lobby, from 6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and at the Duke Clinic front lobby, from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Find a map of the Duke Medicine campus here. For those who are unable to make the Thursday drop-off times, Operation Medicine Drop, in partnership with the Durham Police Department, will also be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 21 at the following Durham locations:•    Walgreens, 1812 Holloway Street•    Kroger, 3457 Hillsborough Road •    Triangle Pharmacy/Ace Hardware, 1700 East NC Highway 54•    Kroger, 202 West NC Highway 54Officers will supervise the collection of medications, which will be transported to an incinerator at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation lab to be safely destroyed.