The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office reports it has collected more than 1,700 pounds of prescription drugs since November 2011. That’s when the first medicine disposal box was installed in the entryway of the Flathead County Justice Center in Kalispell.

Operation Medicine Cabinet has been a big success, sheriff Chuck Curry says. Secure disposal boxes are also located at the Columbia Falls and Whitefish police departments.

“The goal of this program is to get drugs out of people’s medicine cabinets,” Curry said. “Oftentimes, people can leave old, expired or narcotic medications that may be a temptation to your kids or even other people. Prescription drug abuse has been steadily on the rise.

Curry said it has been difficult to get rid of prescription medications short of flushing them down the toilet, which isn’t good for the environment.

“This program was designed to potentially get these drugs off of the streets at no cost to the public,” Curry added. “That’s the biggest goal of the program. We saw a perfect opportunity because we had a huge prescription drug problem. Anything we can do to reduce that is a benefit to the community, and that’s why we got involved.”

The medicine disposal boxes are available to the public for free, and law enforcement officials dispose of the medications properly. Commercial or bulk drops are discouraged, and syringes and liquids are not allowed.