MADERA COUNTY – Sheriff John Anderson announced that the Sheriff’s Department’s drug take-back program held over the weekend hauled in just under 250 pounds of drugs.
Two booths were set up in Madera County to accommodate citizens, one in Oakhurst and the other in Madera, on Saturday, Oct 26.
In Oakhurst, citizens turned in 187 pounds of unwanted drugs, and 62 ½ pounds were collected at the Sheriff’s Main Office in Madera.
This was the Sheriff’s second take-back drug program for 2013, and it proved to be a record event.
“The goal is to give parents and all residents a place where they can properly dispose of unused, unwanted or expired medications safely,” says Madera County Sheriff John Anderson.
As always, the Take Back Drugs program is completely anonymous. No questions are asked, and no requests for identification are made.
Medicines, whether prescription or OTC, should never be disposed of by flushing them down a toilet or any other drain that empties into a city’s wastewater system or into a septic system drain field, since the drugs will then contaminate nearby groundwater, streams and rivers, and may be ingested by fish and other animals.
On Saturday, Sheriff Anderson says the Madera County Sheriff’s Office saw a 400% increase in the number of unwanted prescription drugs turned in by citizens. Last October, the Sheriff’s Office collected 60 pounds of prescription medications.
