The Hoquiam Police Department has been a leader in the National Drug Take Back days locally and they have announced another date and participation. They also say that you can drop off old prescription drugs anytime.

The next DEA national Drug Take Back Day is scheduled for October 28th. That is the day local communities and law enforcement agencies across the country set up free drug take-back collection sites.

HOWEVER, Hoquiam PD has a free 24/7 drug take back box in the lobby of the police station at 215-10th Street for use ALL THE TIME. You don't have to worry about a specific day to safely dispose of those unused or unwanted medications, all you have to do is stop by our station lobby, day or night, and drop them in the collection box.

The collection box is located in the lobby. It is a large white box which looks like a postal mail box. Just walk up and dump in your medication- bam, done, easy. You can remove your labels from the bottle, or dump everything in a bag. It does not matter because everything is collected inside the box in large bags and then incinerated at a DOE approved facility in Oregon.

The cost for this program is covered by the department because we believe it is the right thing to do. Although we don't have to worry about only collecting medications on the DEA take back days, we do appreciate the ability to send back collected medications for destruction right after these national programs. The DEA covers the cost of shipping and incineration, so it does help off-set our ongoing program costs.

Unwanted and unused medications left in the home are one of the first places drug abuse starts...get rid of it!

Our drug drop box is available for use by ALL CITIZENS, you do not have to be a resident of Hoquiam.

Since we installed our drug take back box in October 2014, HPD has collected and safely disposed of over 3,024 pounds of medications!