What should you do with expired or unwanted medications? The answer depends on the type of medicine you want to discard and the options you find most convenient. Regardless of the type, however, the worst thing to do with unwanted drugs is to flush them down the toilet.

A statewide No Drugs Down the Drain Campaign began Oct. 4 and runs through Saturday. Ventura County and its 10 cities have listed drug drop-off centers on the Earth 911 Web site at http://www.earth911.org. If you type "medicine" into the site's Find a Recycling or Re-Use Location tool bar at the top of the page, along with your ZIP code or city, you can see options for drop-off. Medications taken to these locations are typically sealed into containers and delivered, along with other hazardous waste, to incinerators for destruction.

The advantage of using city- or county-sponsored household hazardous waste collection centers is the assurance that your drugs will be handled in a thorough, secure manner.

Collection centers, however, are not allowed to accept drugs labeled as "controlled substances," such as narcotics, tranquilizers or stimulants.

At a county-sponsored collection event last weekend, one diligent citizen under orders from his wife cleaned out his medicine cabinets after decades of accumulation. Unfortunately, he combined all his family's pills, creams, and suppositories into one big plastic bag and took it to the collection center, along with hazardous waste. Technicians had to go through the bag thoroughly before determining there were no controlled substances and accepting it for disposal.

Controlled substances should instead be taken to a participating law enforcement office, doctor's office or pharmacy. Few currently participate, so before dropping off drugs, call ahead. Starting Monday, the city of Camarillo and the Ventura County Sheriff's Department will offer a drug drop-off site at the Camarillo Police Station, 3701 E. Las Posas Road.

Featuring prominent labels describing its purpose, the drug drop-off box looks like a mailbox.

The disadvantage of using hazardous waste drop-off centers for drugs is the inconvenience. Drop-off centers are also expensive for public agencies. Fortunately, observing certain precautions can make drug disposal in the trash safe, private and legal. According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, "The only typical pharmaceuticals in a home that are likely to be considered hazardous waste are those prescribed for chemotherapy." Otherwise, it is legal to discard drugs in your curbside garbage cart.

If you are using the regular garbage as your disposal method, here (adapted from http://www.nodrugsdownthedrain.org) are a few tips to avoid problems:

n Make your drugs unappetizing to both human and animal scavengers. The best way is to add water and salt or ashes from your fireplace or barbecue to the drug bottle. You can even add dirt. Shake until disgusting.

n Protect your privacy by removing labels showing the patient's name, drug name and other personal information.

n Make sure discarded medications are in a plastic bottle or container, to prevent scavenging and decrease the chance of causing problems in landfills. Use the original container with safety caps, and wrap containers in masking or duct tape. If your medicine is in a glass bottle, put it into a plastic container and recycle the glass.

n Disguise a medical package by putting it into an outer container. Choose something no one would want to open, such as the jacket of an old Bee Gees album.

Medications always should be stored in childproof containers, out of the reach of children.

In 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey released a report of stream samples collected in 30 states. Of 139 streams tested, 80 percent had measurable concentrations of pharmaceuticals. To keep an eye on the environment, use an official drop-off center or your trash to discard medications.

On the Net:

http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/hhw/pharmwaste

— David Goldstein and Howard E. Hope are environmental resource analysts for Ventura County. Representatives of government or nonprofit agencies that want to submit articles on environmental topics for this column should contact Goldstein at 658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.