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Health news and issues in the Ozarks.

CoxHealth Offers Another Option for Disposing of Prescription Medicine

CoxHealth

If you have prescription medication that you no longer use there's a new option for getting rid of it safely.  You can now drop it off at CoxHealth Pharmacies

The service is available to anyone for free, and anonymously, at CoxHealth’s five pharmacies in Springfield and Branson. 

The boxes look similar to mailboxes and are locked at all times, according to the health system.  Once something is dropped in it can’t be retrieved.  You’re required to drop the medicine in yourself since pharmacy staff aren’t permitted to touch it.  Needles, inhalers and aerosols are not accepted.

Once the boxes are full the medication is sealed up by two members of staff and shipped to a destruction facility where it's incinerated.

The boxes are available anytime the pharmacies are open.

Michele Skalicky has worked at KSMU since the station occupied the old white house at National and Grand. She enjoys working on both the announcing side and in news and has been the recipient of statewide and national awards for news reporting. She likes to tell stories that make a difference. Michele enjoys outdoor activities, including hiking, camping and leisurely kayaking.