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What do law enforcement agencies do with the drugs they seize?A new series from the KBIA Health and Wealth Desk takes a look what the recommended protocols are AND what can happen when they aren’t followed.

The Weight of Evidence Part Four: The Disposal Dilemma

Fayette City Hall is pictured from across the street. It is a two-story building made of red brick - it has a ramp/staircase hybrid on the front, and there is a large flagpole flying the Missouri State flag outside. Parked outside the building, about 10-15 feet away, is a large black Chevrolet Silverado truck with the words "POLICE: Fayette Police Department" on the side in white and blue letters.
Anna Spidel
/
KBIA
A Fayette Police Department truck sits outside Fayette City Hall, which houses its police station. The two-story building is also where Board of Aldermen meetings are held.

Driving down main street, Fayette city hall is marked by a large flagpole flying the state flag. It’s a two story building, with the council room taking up most of the first floor - on the second floor is the police station.

The Fayette Police Department has eight active duty and seven reserve officers – but what they don’t have is a reliable way to dispose of their drug evidence.

When drugs in marked Fayette Police Department Evidence bags turned up in a dumpster behind the town’s only grocery store, citizens raised questions about why the city had chosen that method of disposal and asked how it’s usually supposed to happen.

The Drug Enforcement Agency requires all of its drugs to be destroyed in incinerators approved by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA developed a map of approved incinerators for law enforcement agencies to reference, but the map shows that the only EPA-approved incinerators in Missouri are more than 100 miles away from Fayette.

“We know that one of the direct pathways for individuals into addiction at the youth and young adult level…. is the family's medicine cabinet."
Jeff Horwitz

In 2014, the Columbia Police Department acquired an incinerator, which was purchased by the Boone County Department of Health and Human Services using leftover funds from a previous year’s budget. Columbia purchased its incinerator from Elastec, a company based in Carmi, Illinois.

However, Columbia police said other police departments aren’t allowed to use their incinerator because of specific requirements laid out in their permit.

“The restrictions written into our permit from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources indicates we cannot burn 'obtained contraband or prohibited goods from other governmental agencies such as police or similar agency',” the Columbia Police Department said in a statement.

Fayette City Attorney Nathan Nickolaus said Fayette looked into getting its own incinerator, but the city couldn’t afford it and failed to secure a grant that would have covered the costs.

Jeremy Pretszch, the sales manager at Elastec, said the company’s incinerators are designed specifically for law enforcement.

Pretzsch said one of Elastec's incinerator units, named the “Drug Terminator," costs about $6,000 after taxes and shipping, and added that Fayette Police Chief David Ford contacted him in January about purchasing one.

For departments that can’t afford their own incinerator units, Pretszch said he’s seen some police departments use federal funding sources or pool with neighboring towns to purchase one.

He said Elastec actually started making these incinerators as a smaller, cheaper alternative to aid the small police department in the town where their own company is based.

“And our local sheriff, of course, has drugs to destroy, and he didn't have a way to do it,” Pretszch said. “They take it out, bury it, or dig a hole in the ground, put everything in it, and then light it on fire and wait for it to burn out.”

After hearing about this, Elastec set out to create an incinerator that wouldn’t require lengthy travel to a commercial site and would be safe for the environment and the public.

Pretszch said incinerators must be specially designed to prevent hazardous smoke from escaping and harming the environment or putting the public in contact with drug fumes.

The "Drug Terminator" incinerator is a 55-gallon drum with a special containment system that traps this hazardous smoke.

According to the EPA, incineration is the best available way to ensure narcotics don’t end up back in soil or waterways after disposal.

“For years, the method for destroying narcotics and pharmaceuticals was to flush it,” Pretzsch said. “Since then, there's not really been a good solution for destroying them, but incineration is probably the best option as it is.”

Several businesses sit on the corner of Main and E. Morris street in downtown Fayette.  A sign shows the names of the crossroads, along with a blue and yellow banner that says "Downtown Fayette" with a drawing of the courthouse. The buildings are red brick, and several cars are parked on the street. The sky is grey and filled with clouds.
Anna Spidel
/
KBIA
Fayette's Main Street houses city hall, along with most of the town's businesses. The town square acts as an economic hub for the town's ~2800 residents. Fayette city hall and the Howard County courthouse are also on main street, and the campus of Central Methodist university sits at the end.

Jeff Horwitz is the CEO of Stop the Addiction Fatality Epidemic Project, or SAFE, an organization working to end overdose deaths.

He said drug disposal isn’t just something police need to worry about – it’s important for everyone who has medication in their home to make sure it’s stored securely and disposed of properly when it’s no longer needed.

“We know that one of the direct pathways for individuals into addiction at the youth and young adult level," Horwitz said, "is the family's medicine cabinet."

Education and access to safe drug disposal methods is just one of the many things that SAFE focuses on in their efforts to reduce overdose deaths.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, disposing of drugs in an unsafe manner – including over the counter and prescription medications – can increase the risk of overdose and accidental poisoning for those who are most vulnerable, including children and people with substance use disorders.

But Horwitz said incineration isn’t always the most accessible, or even the best option for destroying drugs.

He says the disposal options for people with narcotics in their home are often limited to twice-a-year takeback days or dropboxes at local police departments.

So, SAFE recommends using at-home disposal products that turn narcotics into unusable forms like goo or little rubber pellets.

The SAFE Project website lists several of these products, including Deterra, DisposeRx, and Rx Destroyer. But Horwitz says these products still aren’t approved by the FDA and not many people know about them.

“They should be more apparent. Now what we've done over the last couple of years is we thanks to some generosity, we've been able to distribute about 150,000 disposal pouches or packets,” Horwitz said.

But, he believes it’s still not enough and said legislation is needed to make disposal options more accessible for the public and to regulate agencies like police departments.

“I think the legislation really should require that if there are medications in the responsibility of your job.. that they need to have a secured destruction plan available,” Horwitz said.

In part five of The Weight of Evidence, we’ll hear from the people of Fayette about their views on the December incident, how it’s been handled, and what kind of recovery options are available in the community. 

The next installment of The Weight of Evidence will be available Friday on KBIA 91.3 FM at 7:44 a.m. and 5:45 p.m., online at kbia.org and online and in print in the Columbia Missourian.

Anna Spidel is a health reporter for the KBIA Health & Wealth desk. A proud Michigander, Anna hails from Dexter, Michigan and received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Michigan State University in 2022. Previously, she worked with member station Michigan Radio as an assistant producer on Stateside.
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