WHAT: Media opportunity
DATE: Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
TIME: 2 p.m.
LOCATION: Collier County Sheriff’s Office headquarters, Building J, 3301 U.S. 41 E., East Naples
MEDIA NOTE: Reporters, please meet in the PIO lobby.
SUMMARY: The public can now discard their unused pills at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.
CCSO and Drug Free Collier have partnered to offer a permanent site where people can dispose of their unwanted or expired prescription drugs.
CCSO recently purchased a lock box for the purpose of providing a permanent drug collection site.
Now people can dispose of their bottles and pills - no questions asked - in this box, located in the first floor main lobby at CCSO headquarters, Building J, 3301 U.S. 41 E., East Naples.
The white box has the CCSO logo on it and says “Prescription Drop Off Box.” The public can discard unused medication in this box from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
“When unused medicine is properly disposed of it is no longer a temptation for abuse,’’ said Sheriff Kevin J. Rambosk. “The Collier County Sheriff’s Office and Drug Free Collier want to offer our community as many ways as possible to remove these items from their homes and make sure they don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
If the pilot program is successful, the hope is to establish permanent drop-off locations throughout Collier County.
The program is aimed at keeping unused medications out of the hands of kids.
Juvenile prescription drug abuse is a serious problem in Collier County and household medicine cabinets are the No. 1 source for youth to access medication. But prescription drugs aren’t the only type of medicines youth are accessing from local household medicine cabinets. There are many types of cough medicines and over-the-counter sleep medications that can be a source of juvenile substance abuse.
CCSO and Drug Free Collier have developed a pharmaceutical take-back program called Operation Medicine Cabinet, which gives residents a chance to bring used or expired prescription medications, controlled substances and over-the-counter medications to locations in their community for safe disposal.
CCSO and Drug Free Collier have taken that initiative a step further by providing a permanent drop-off site.
Drug Free Collier Executive Director Maria Victoria Delgado lauded Sheriff Rambosk for taking steps to further curb prescription drug abuse in our community.
“Sheriff Rambosk has offered the families of Collier County a way to safely and legally dispose of their prescriptions which will result in keeping drugs off the street, out of the hands of our youth and out of our water,” Delgado said. “Permanent drop-off sites for prescription drugs are a wave of the future for our community. We hope that all law enforcement agencies will follow Sheriff Rambosk’s example and use this effective method in preventing the non-medical use of prescription drugs.”
The box will be monitored.
Medication, including liquids, must be placed in a bottle or container before being placed in the vault.
CCSO will take the appropriate measures to dispose of the medicine.
