In 2008, the Associated Press investigation revealed that concentrations of pharmaceutical drugs were found in the drinking water supply of nearly 41 million Americans. Among the substances found were antibiotics, anticonvulsants, mood stabilizers, and sex hormones. To combat this problem, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s Synergistic Efforts to Reduce Pharmaceutical Impacts on the Environment (SerPIE) was created. This program offers a one-health approach to minimizing environmental impacts.

One of the ways to reduce the amount of pharmaceutical drugs in the water is to provide a safe place to discard them. The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office now joins local agencies with a drop box to dispose of unused prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. This drop-box was made possible by a Capacity Building Grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, secured by the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

The SerPIE program is an Alabama A&M project led by Dr. Karnita Garner and Marcus Garner.

“It’s all about keeping those prescription drugs from entering the waterways,” Marcus Garner said. “To have this drop-box here at the Sheriff’s Office is just amazing. Only they are allowed to have control over it, so it’s in good hands.”

Limestone County Sheriff Joshua McLaughlin said, “All they have to do is walk in and drop it in the box. They don’t have to see us, and we aren’t keeping tabs on it. Just walk in and drop it in the box.”

“People get prescription drugs all the time. The get over-the-counter drugs and they sit in medicine cabinets, they expire, and people pull them out and look at the expiration day and see it’s expired. Most of them either dump it in the trash, down the sink, or down the toilet. When they dump it down the toilet, if you have a septic system, it goes out into the ground. If you are on city, it goes to the municipal water treatment plant. It will get treated and released back to the river,” Limestone County Extension Coordinator Chris Becker said.

Many of the things found in medications are not filtered out during the process, and eventually, they make their way into the water system. Water samples have revealed the presence of these products.

“They find pharmaceuticals. They find the antimicrobial chemical that is on plastic things and that chemical will come off of those products. Those drugs and chemicals end up in wildlife and fish. There is an environmental impact and this goes a long way, as long as people will use it, in remediating that,” Becker said.

The materials collected will be disposed of via incineration, which makes it important that the community follow the rules posted on the box in regards to what materials are allowed.

Items that will be accepted:

• Prescription medications (removing personal info is recommended)

• Over-the-counter medicines

• Vitamins

• Pet medicines

• Medicated ointments and lotions

• Inhalers

• Medicine samples

Items that will not be accepted:

• Needles/lancets/syringes

• Thermometers

• Aerosol cans

• Empty containers

• Bloody infectious waste

• Batteries

“The Limestone County Sheriff’s Office is excited to partner with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System on this project that will make a positive impact on the future of our community,” McLaughlin said.

For more information regarding the SerPIE Program, please visit www.aces.edu/blog/topics/business-community-urban/serpie/