The Operation Medicine Cabinet which I blogged about recently has rounded up 60 pounds of unused prescription drugs in Oakland County.
The grand opening was Friday the 11th at the Royal Oak Police Department in partnership with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Home Instead Senior Care, as well as other organizations. The residents were asked to bring their unused prescription drugs to the Police Department.
“It was a great success, and we’ve had dozens of people coming in since then, bringing their prescription drugs to our police station,” Police Chief Chris Jahnke said. ”Prescription drug abuse is on the rise, especially among teens, and that is one of our goals — to get narcotics out of the medicine cabinets and put them where they can be safely eliminated.”
This station in Royal Oak is now different than the situation at the Sheriff’s Office in Pontiac, as well as substations in Rochester Hills and Commerce Township. The new policy at the Royal Oak Police Department allows residents to drop off their prescriptions 24/7, while all the other stations are only on Wednesdays between 8 am and 4 pm.
Jahnke says that not only does this rid the streets of drugs, but it also has a green aspect; “Now the unused drugs won’t be going into the waterways and landfills,” he said.
These drugs will be disposed of in the same way that the police use to get rid of illegal drugs they have confiscated.
Bert Copple, general manager for Home Instead Senior Care in Birmingham, said disposing of drugs protects pets and children who spend more time at home.
“They’re around the house, and having prescription drugs in the medicine cabinet that aren’t being used, may open the door to experiment,” he said.
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