Do you have a bunch of un-needed or outdated prescriptions in your medicine cabinet? If so, the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department would like to take them off your hands.
On Saturday, Sept. 29, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., MCSD personnel are offering you another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding your home of potentially dangerous expired, unused or unwanted prescription drugs.This free service is also an opportunity for you to ensure that powerful drugs don’t end up in area lakes and streams and watersheds — as is often the case if they are thrown into the trash or flushed down a toilet or other drain.You can take your medications for disposal to the following MCSD offices:
o Mariposa County Sheriff’s Department, 5099 Old Highway North in Mariposa
o Greeley Hill Sub-station, 10459 Fiske Road in Coulterville
o Lake McClureDon Pedro Sub-station, 9729 Merced Falls Road in La Grange
The service is free and anonymous, and no questions will be asked.
Last April, Americans turned in 552,161 pounds—276 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,600 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,300 state and local law enforcement partners. In its four previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 1.5 million pounds, or nearly 775 tons, of pills.
Abuse of prescription drugs in the U.S. is at an all-time high, and accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs is also alarmingly high. Studies show that most abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, most often from the home medicine cabinet.
For more information, call the sheriff’s office at 209-966-3615.
