Archived Story

Drug take-back box nets 91 pounds of old medications

Published 12:09am Sunday, January 6, 2013

In almost two months, 91 pounds of unwanted prescription medications were collected from the drug box in the lobby of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office.

Installed Nov. 9, the prescription drug box came from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at the request of Sheriff Jeff Lawless to keep old medications off the streets and out of the waterways.

This was the first count of medications from the box since it was installed.

“This proves to me that this program works,” Lawless said. “To have collected this volume of medications in two short months is amazing to me. As a result of this program, our homes, our streets and our waterways are safer today.”

The drug box is available to citizens 24 hours a day and no interaction with a law enforcement officer is needed. If a person has drugs they want to dispose of, they simply have to walk into the lobby and dispose of the drugs into the secure box.

Several safety precautions should be observed when using the take back box:

• Do not deposit needles or sharp objects.

• Liquids should be tightly capped and placed in a zip lock bag.

• If a label can be removed, do so. If not, black out the name with a marker.

All medications and containers that the sheriff’s office receives will be incinerated.

 

  1. Dacryocystorhinostomy

    I hope this collection stuff doesn’t cost one penny. The Sheriff’s Ofc. has been complaininmg of a shortage of funds anyway. People have an easy way to dispose of old or unwanted meds…the commode, and their trash can for their containers. if this collection/disposal by the Sheriff’s Ofc. costs anything at all, it’s a waste of $$, same as these silly “gun buyback” progs in some places.

    (Report comment)

Editor's Picks

Tribune news editor dies after cancer fight

Veteran journalist and news editor of The Tribune Teresa Moore, 51, died this morning at the Community Hospice Care Center in Ashland, Ky., following a ... Read more  | 1 comment