As part of a new initiatve to reduce prescription drug abuse in Montana, State Attorney General Tim Fox has awarded grants to 13 Montana pharmacies, including two local ones.

The $2,000 grants are to cover the costs of buying and installing Medsafes — mailbox-sized dropboxes where the community can leave old prescription medication.

The Alpine Apothecary in Whitefish and The Clinical Pharmacy in Kalispell each received a grant.

Becky Stillo, who owns Alpine Apothecary with her husband and pharmacist, Josh, said the Medsafes would be a welcome addition to her business.

“People leave their unwanted or unused medication in these boxes where they are secure,” she said. “From there they get disposed safely. It keeps them out of kids’ hands and we ship them off to be destroyed.”

Still said she expects the Medsafes to arrive within four to six weeks. The $2,000 covers the boxes as well as the administrative costs in purchasing and shipping them.

The drug take-back locations, also in Plains, St. Ignatius, Polson, Missoula, Hamilton, Florence, Lolo, Butte, Stevensville and Fort Benton, are part of the Montana Pharmacy Safe Medication Disposal Initiative that was announced in late July.

“We’ll be giving data on how well we think it is working and what barriers are there,” Stillo said. “We’ll be counting how many pounds we collect to see how effective the program is.”

She said Montanans needed a way to safely dispose of dangerous prescription drugs.

“We get tons of calls from people whose family has passed away asking what to do with old medication,” Stillo said. “It’s like what they have at the justice department, but not everyone wants to go to the police department to throw out old stuff.”

Attorney General Fox said this was just one step in the initiative.

“These 13 pharmacies are pioneers, taking on this public service because they feel prescription drug disposal programs are a valuable public safety tool, and because implementing one in each of their locations is the right thing to do,” he said.

“We’re pleased to be able to help them in these efforts, and we encourage more Montana pharmacies to make disposal of prescription drugs convenient for their customers.”

Grant recipients will collect and send data quarterly to the Attorney General’s Office. The data will be used to show other pharmacies the viability of a prescription take-back program.