Sheriff?s office takes part in national drug dumping program

Residents with kitchen cabinets brimming with unused medications may be unknowing partners in prescription drug abuse.

For fear of contaminating ground water by dumping or flushing drugs, people have been left with few other options. That?s why many locals had an unlikely destination Saturday ? the Jefferson County Sheriff?s Office, to take part in one of the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration?s Take-Back-Days. The program is aimed at reducing prescription drug abuse in the United States.

The local sheriff?s office collected a total of 59 pounds of drugs.

In April, citizens turned in 276 tons of medications nationally, and 60 pounds locally. Since its inception, the program has taken more than 1.5 million pounds of medication out of circulation.

Prescription drug abuse has been a growing problem in the United States, particularly among teenagers, according to the DEA. The administration reported a 114 percent increase in death from overdosing from 2001 to 2005, and the number of citizens in treatment for prescription opioids increased 74 percent from 2002 to 2006.

?Prescription drug abuse has been on the rise for many years,? said Morton.

He said many residents who dropped off drugs Saturday were elderly, or were disposing of medications for their older parents.

?If grandma and grandpa have pain killers in the house and somebody takes some, they most likely wouldn?t be able to tell any were missing,? said Morton.

He estimated the office discovers residents in possession of a controlled substance during roughly five arrests per year, not including police station arrests.

Oxycodone is the most commonly abused drug, he said, but he also sees other painkillers or tranquilizers like Valium and Vicodin.

Morton said he disposed of Vicodin during the event, which was prescribed to him for a shoulder injury awhile back. Since he knew he shouldn?t flush the drugs down the toilet or throw them away, he still had them in his home.

?If you flush them or put them in the trash they can get into the ground water,? he said.

The Sheriff?s office sends the drugs to the DEA, who Morton said incinerates the medications. He said the office plans to continue the program as long as the drug administration offers it.

He said the program is anonymous.

?We don?t look at what people are dumping,? he said. ?We don?t care how they got the medications, we just want to help discard them properly.?