New Drug Take-Back Box at Warren County Sheriff’s Office Offers Safe Way to Dispose of Medications

Residents of Warren County now have a safe and convenient way to dispose of unused or expired medications thanks to a new Medication Take Back Box installed at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office.

The secure collection box, located just inside the front entrance of the Sheriff’s Office at 200 Skyline Vista Drive in Front Royal, was donated by the Warren Memorial Hospital Foundation in partnership with Valley Health. The box is available 24 hours a day, year-round, providing residents with a permanent location to safely dispose of medications.

Sheriff Crystal Cline (left) and Warren Memorial Hospital pharmacist Brandon Fritz stand beside the new Medication Take-Back Box inside the Warren County Sheriff’s Office in Front Royal. The secure drop-off box allows residents to safely dispose of unused or expired medications year-round.

The project was spearheaded by Brandon Fritts, a pharmacist at Warren Memorial Hospital, who worked with the Warren Memorial Hospital Foundation and the Sheriff’s Office to bring the program to the community.

“We at Valley Health think it’s very important to be a partner in the community,” said Emily Burner, Senior Director of Development for Valley Health Foundations. “When Brandon approached the Warren Memorial Hospital Foundation and said this was definitely a need in the community, we were happy to help make it happen.”

Sheriff Crystal M. Cline said the program was created to make safe medication disposal simple and accessible for everyone in the community.

“Anybody in our community can come to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and drop off unused prescription medications for themselves, their family members, or even their pets,” Cline said. “There are no questions asked. You simply walk in the front door, deposit the medications in the box, and leave.”

Cline noted that removing unused medications from homes helps reduce the risk of misuse, theft, or accidental ingestion.

“This medication take-back box is an important public safety resource for Warren County,” she said. “Too often, unused or expired medications remain in homes where they can be misused, stolen, or accidentally accessed by children and others. By providing a secure, year-round disposal location, we are helping reduce opportunities for prescription drug abuse and giving our community a safe and responsible way to remove these medications from circulation.”

The new box also expands on the Sheriff’s Office’s participation in the DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which is typically held twice each year.

“Normally we partner with the DEA on drug take-back events twice a year,” said Lt. Terry Fritts of the Warren County Sheriff’s Office during the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “This box allows residents to safely dispose of medications any day of the year.”

Medications placed in the collection box will be periodically retrieved, documented, and properly destroyed in accordance with federal drug disposal regulations, ensuring the substances cannot re-enter circulation.

Accepted items

Residents can dispose of several types of medications, including:

• Prescription tablets and capsules
• Over-the-counter tablets and capsules
• Controlled substances
• Prescription patches
• Expired or unwanted pet medications

Community members are encouraged to remove or black out personal information on prescription labels before placing items in the collection box.

Items not accepted

Certain items cannot be placed in the box, including:

• Liquids or lotions
• Syringes or other sharps
• Inhalers
• Aerosol products

Those items must be disposed of through other approved programs.

The installation of the take-back box also reflects Valley Health’s broader commitment to improving public health across the region. Valley Health serves more than 500,000 residents throughout Virginia’s Northern Shenandoah Valley and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, operating six hospitals along with dozens of medical practices, urgent care centers, and other healthcare services.

With the new take-back box now in place, residents have a simple way to safely remove unused medications from their homes while helping reduce the risk of prescription drug misuse in the community.