BCSO Partnership Collects Over 1,000 Pounds of Unused, Expired Prescription Medications
By Wayne Ivey, Brevard County Sheriff // September 30, 2015
National Prescription Drug Take Back Event
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office partnered with Health First, the Cocoa Beach Police Department and Hobbs Pharmacy for the National Prescription Drug Take Back event.
Collection locations were held at Health First hospital locations and Hobb’s Pharmacy, where over 1,000 pounds of unneeded, unused and expired prescription medications were collected.
Additionally, beginning Oct. 1, citizens can respond to any Sheriff’s Office Precinct to discard unused and expired medications in secure Drop Boxes that will are located in the Precinct lobbies.
We applaud Health First and their employees and volunteers for their generous efforts to help protect our communities by collecting unused and expired prescription medications. The collections helps prevent theft, abuse and disposal at our landfills, water treatment facilities and our aquifer where it harms our environment.
Health First and Hobb’s Pharmacy are valuable partners and we would like to recognize their amazing support.
Collection events provide opportunities for citizens to safely discard their unneeded, unused or expired prescription medications. These multi-agency efforts are aimed at addressing the problem of prescription drug abuse while protecting the environment. Citizens can stop by during the designated times and drop off their medications for safe collection and disposal.
Medication disposal is quickly becoming an important and alarming issue. What happens to all the prescription or over-the-counter medications that are brought home, but end up unused?
The choice is often to leave them in the medicine cabinet, throw them in the trash, or flush them down the sink or toilet.
PLEASE REMEMBER:
Please Don’t Keep Un-needed Medications. Keeping old medications in the house can lead to accidents. People sometimes get confused about which drugs to take, or take expired medication which can be ineffective or even dangerous. Children or grandchildren can find the medicine, which could easily lead to overdose, addiction and possibly even death.
Please Don’t Throw Medications Away. Drugs thrown in the trash are a public and environmental safety concern that can wind up in the hands of children, drug users or be consumed by animals. Drugs that make it to the landfill can leach into and the soil and contaminate groundwater. Identity theft can occur from the personal patient information on the medicine containers when discarded.
Please Don’t Flush Medications. Disposing of medications down the sink or toilet is very harmful to the environment. Sewage treatment plants are not designed to remove all drug compounds and chemicals released during the water treatment process. Certain drugs kill beneficial bacteria responsible for breaking down waste and can also damage septic systems. Treated water is being introduced into streams, lakes and groundwater and directly affects fish and other aquatic wildlife.
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What Can You Do? You can drop off your unwanted and expired medications with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. The medications will then be safely processed and destroyed.
What Can You Drop Off? The Sheriff’s Office will accept all non-prescription over-the-counter medications, prescription medications and even pet medications. You can bring in pills, ointments and lotions. You can leave the medications in the original packaging container or put it in a sealable plastic bag. You can even combine medications in one bag.
No Identification or signatures are required.
The effort is designed to educate the public and raise awareness about the problem of prescription drug abuse and improper disposal. The problem has reached epidemic proportions, with prescription drugs as the number one abused drug in the United States, surpassing all other illicit drugs.
For future events, please visit our Facebook Page (Brevard Sheriff Official) for more information regarding future collections, or please contact our Crime Prevention Unit at 321-264-7755.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey has been a law enforcement officer for over three decades. Sheriff Ivey is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and has a Bachelor’s Degree from Daytona State College in Management and Supervision. Sheriff Ivey’s background in law enforcement is inclusive of Management, Criminal Investigations, Narcotics, Patrol Services, Public Integrity Investigations, and Corrections.
Prior to being elected in 2012, Sheriff Ivey served the citizens of the State of Florida as a Resident Agent in Charge for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As a member of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Sheriff Ivey developed and created the country’s first ever statewide Task Force on Identity Theft. That same year the Task Force was named one of the top five most innovative programs in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and investigated approximately 44 million dollars in fraud cases. Additionally, as a member of FDLE, Sheriff Ivey created the Child Abduction Response Team (C.A.R.T) that re-defined the way Child Abduction cases are conducted throughout the country today. The program was later selected as the most innovative program in the country by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and is now used as a nationwide model in the response and investigation of child abductions.
Sheriff Ivey has testified before the United States Congress on law enforcement related matters and has extensive experience in the area of Public Integrity Investigations. Sheriff Ivey was honored as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Special Agent of the Year (1996) and was also recognized by the Commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for his Outstanding Contributions to Criminal Justice. In August of 2011 Sheriff Ivey was honored by the National Organization of Victims Advocacy for his work at the national level as an advocate of victim’s rights and protection.
Sheriff Ivey speaks regularly on topics such as Identity Theft, Crime in America, Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Self Defense through Mental Preparedness. Sheriff Ivey firmly believes that Crime Prevention and Education are vital to reduce our crime rate and protect our community.
