Police departments providing way to dispose of drugs

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Tom Callan reporting A trip to the police department might become the best remedy to clear out old prescription drugs.

It's a big white box, a mailbox for drugs, right inside the lobby of the Salt Lake City Police Department.

"It reduces environmental effects of these types of medicines flushed down the drain type of a thing, and also it just gets them away from kids that are in the home," explained Detective Jared Wihongi, spokesman for the Salt Lake City Police Department. He says it's a simple, anonymous way to clear out the bathroom cabinet.

The Department of Environmental Quality is now dispensing $1,000 grants to police departments to put the steel boxes in their lobbies. The feds want to protect the outdoors from drugs and thieves rummaging through your trash cans.

E-mail: tcallan@ksl.com