Over the course of a four-hour event last weekend at a Wellesley drugstore, 41 people from area communities, including Natick and Needham, dropped off enough unwanted painkillers, antibiotics, and antidepressants to overflow a 30-gallon barrel. The idea was to prevent those drugs from reaching the water supply.

more stories like this"I'm thrilled," Wellesley resident Angelika Angino said as she handed over a bag of unwanted medications. "I don't want to pollute the water."

Efforts to keep pharmaceuticals out of the water supply are ramping up in Massachusetts, but they are running into legal and financial constraints that make the proper disposal of drugs difficult.

For years, the federal government advised flushing prescriptions down the toilet once they were no longer needed. But recently, an increasing number of reports of potentially harmful medications making their way into water supplies through ground water have caused concern around the country.

One new solution has been to hold medicine-collection events, or "takebacks," at which unwanted or outdated prescription and over-the-counter medications are gathered for incineration. Although several have been held in Western Massachusetts, last Saturday's collection at the Eaton Apothecary in Wellesley apparently was the first in Greater Boston.

An officer from the Norfolk County sheriff's office was present at all times and was responsible for the controlled substances, as required by law. All the drugs will eventually be incinerated, considered to be safer for the environment.

The $2,000 to $3,000 cost of the collection and disposal, which will be paid by Eaton Apothecary, stems largely from incineration fees and payments to law-enforcement officials to watch over the controlled substances until they are destroyed.

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/06/15/
getting_rid_of_what_the_doctor_ordered/