INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Thousands upon thousands of prescription pills and expired over-the-counter medications were diverted from the landfill, the water system and the wrong hands during the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office Operation Medicine Cabinet over the weekend.
“We did really well,” said organizer Deputy Roberta Barker of the joint operation between the Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Take-Back Initiative, which helps residents safely dispose of expired and unused medications.
The event collected 193 pounds of pills from the six sites county-wide, up from the 160 pounds collected at the last Operation Medicine Cabinet.
Adding to the haul at the Roseland Walgreen’s was Sebastian resident Gladys Olafsson.
Olafsson said she had missed the prior Operation Medicine Cabinet event and had stored her meds for the next one.
“They’ve been under the sink since the last (event),” she said.
Deputy Barker said just about every site had a large turnout and even larger drug drop-off.
The first few people at each site were given $5 gift cards from Walgreen’s, a major supporter of Operation Medicine Cabinet.
Bill Schultz, the store manager of the Roseland Walgreen’s, donated $250 worth of gift cards for the effort, Deputy Barker said.
The purpose of events like Operation Medicine Cabinet, according to the deputy, is to help educate people on how best to dispose of their unneeded or expired medications.
Medications should not be tossed in the trash or flushed down the toilet or sink, according to Deputy Barker. Doing so could result in negative environmental impacts.
And, unless medications are mixed with bleach or kitty litter, there is nothing to stop some people from digging through the trash to find the medications.
Deputy Barker said that it’s best to get rid of unused medications to also keep them from falling into the hands of the wrong people – those not prescribed the medication.
Law enforcement has worked numerous cases in which maintenance workers or others invited into a person’s home have raided the homeowner’s medicine cabinets, searching for prescription meds, Deputy Barker said.
And there have been cases involving children getting into drugs found at home, along with a growing trend of other people coming into homes taking the drugs.
Many of the medications collected at the Operation Medicine Cabinet sites over the weekend included hydrocodone, Percocet and even heart medication, according to Deputy Barker.
“I do believe in this program,” she said, so much so that the Sheriff’s Office collects old medications year-round at the Administration Building, located at 4055 41st Ave., in Gifford.
People who have needles and other “sharps” can drop those off at the Health Department, located at 1900 27th St., Vero Beach, at the County Administration Complex.
The next Operation Medicine Cabinet event is expected to be held in February. A date has not yet been determined.
For more information about properly disposing of unneeded and expired medications, call the Sheriff’s Office non-emergency line at (772) 569-6700.
