Montana National Guard hosts prescription drug takeback at Fort Harrison

Unused prescriptions sitting in Lewis and Clark County medicine cabinets were the focus at Fort Harrison on Thursday, where the Montana National Guard and the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff’s Office teamed up for a takeback event meant to keep pills out of the trash, away from children and teens, and out of the wrong hands.

The Guard’s Counterdrug Joint Task Force staged the collection at the Helena-area installation as part of its broader counterdrug work. The National Guard Counterdrug Program says it supports military, law-enforcement and community-based counterdrug operations at all levels of government, and Fort Harrison gave that mission a visible local setting inside one of the county’s most recognizable public institutions.

The message behind the event was simple: turn in unused prescription medications instead of leaving them in a home where they can be taken by mistake, misused by a teenager or diverted for someone else’s use. The takeback model gives residents a safer option than throwing pills in the trash or flushing them, both of which can still leave medication within reach or in the environment.

The event also fit into a much larger national effort. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the spring 2025 collection marked the 28th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, and that since 2010 the program had collected nearly 19.8 million pounds of unused medication nationwide as of May 2025. By November 2025, the total had grown to nearly 20.39 million pounds, with more than 4,300 collection sites across the country. In Montana, residents had turned in about 58,000 pounds cumulatively by April 2025, including around 1,500 pounds during the fall 2024 event.

Local public-health numbers show why that matters in Lewis and Clark County. County public health has said drug overdoses were a significant cause of death in Montana last year and that 8 in 10 drug overdoses were unintentional. County and state agencies have also expanded other prevention tools, including free Narcan, gunlocks and drug-activation kits, as they try to stop overdose risks before they start.

The Missouri River Drug Task Force, headquartered in Helena and working in Lewis and Clark County and surrounding counties, has said methamphetamine remains a primary focus and that 90% of community tips involve meth-related activity. The task force also participates in DEA Drug Take Back Day as part of its prevention work, underscoring why law enforcement and the Guard see events like the one at Fort Harrison as a practical local tool: they reduce the supply of leftover medication in homes before it can become an accidental poisoning, a teen misuse issue or a diversion problem.