Prescription Drug Collection

Prescription drug collection information

The Ferguson Township Police Department is one of seven year-round prescription drop-off sites in Centre County. The FTPD accepts unused medications during regular business hours: 8 am - 5 pm Monday through Thursday and 8 am - 4 pm Friday.

Located in the Police Department office at 3147 Research Drive, the Ferguson Township collection box provides a safe, convenient, responsible and confidential way to dispose of prescription drugs. The site is part of a local law enforcement and community initiative to educate the general public about the current opioid addiction crisis and the potential for abuse of medications. 

Year-round collection boxes are one way to help keep these medications out of the hands of those inclined to abuse them.  An opiate and heroin epidemic is taking lives and devastating families nationwide as well as locally, and it will take a collaborative effort to stop it. That collaborative effort is being realized in the Heroin, Opioid, Prevention, Education (HOPE) Coalition.  This initiative aims to prevent and reduce the number of overdoses and overdose-related deaths in Centre County.

In 2017, Ferguson Township officers administered Narcan (Naloxone) to save the lives of four individuals who were overdosing on drugs, and investigated 13 deaths, including a drug overdose.

One of the many positive highlights of 2017 — residents brought 315.53 pounds of unwanted prescription and non-prescription drugs to the FTPD’s collection box

Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are accidental poisonings and overdoses.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet.

In addition, Americans are advised that the usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—pose potential safety and health hazards.

Residents are encouraged to bring your old or unused prescription medicine bottles to the Ferguson Township Police Department or any one of the seven MedReturn collection sites in Centre County, which include:

  • Bellefonte Borough Police Department
  • Centre County Sheriff's Office
  • Patton Township Police Department
  • Penn State University Police Department
  • State College Police Department 
  • Willowbank Office Building

The collected medications are periodically transported to a site where they will be incinerated.

While MedReturn accepts non-opioid over-the-counter medications and vitamins, residents are encouraged to dispose of those by other means—adhering to the FDA guidelines. Those medications may be thrown in the trash, provided they are wrapped in coffee grounds or kitty litter and tightly sealed.  Additional information about disposal may be found by clicking the link below.

"The real focus of the MedReturn box is to keep opioid medications out of circulation—out of medicine cabinets where family members or visitors to your home can access them," she said. "Studies have shown that many young people first acquired these addictive medications from the homes of family and friends. If your over-the-counter medications contain an opioid, and you no longer need them, please bring them to the MedReturn box." MedReturn also accepts physician samples.

To protect your identity, always remove prescription labels from bottles or use a black marker to scratch out all identifying information before depositing the containers in the MedReturn box.


Additional Resources