Key West The Newspaper

Sheriff’s Office Drug Drop program: Environmentally friendly way to dispose of medications.

Note: The Sheriff’s Office will not accept medications from commercial establishments. Also, we have seen a lot of items being deposited in our drug disposal bins that are trash items like empty pill bottles, superglue and nail polish. Please do not dispose of trash in this manner.

The Monroe County The Sheriff’s Office would like to remind everyone about the drug disposal program offered at all our county Sheriff’s Substations and the reasons why it is important to dispose of medications in the right way. The program has been an ongoing success. The Sheriff’s Office regularly collects hundreds of pounds of medications county wide each year. In the first six months of 2016, we collected and disposed of 276 pounds of medications county-wide.

Anyone – with the exception of commercial establishments – may bring no-longer-needed prescription drugs and other over the counter medications in, or call and someone will pick the medications up for disposal.

People who call to have medications picked up can do so with no questions asked. The goal of this program is to dispose of them properly, not to catch people with illegal drugs.

Proper disposal of prescription and over the counter medications is important. Flushing them down the toilet or sink can introduce dangerous and environmentally damaging substances into the water system; throwing them away in the trash can also introduce them into the environment, and runs the risk of them winding up in the wrong hands. The medications collected by the Sheriff’s Office are safely burned in the Sheriff’s Burn Unit.

• In the Upper Keys, medications will be accepted at the Islamorada and Plantation Key Substations Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. For pickup, call 305-853-3211 during office hours.
• In the Middle Keys, the Marathon Substation will accept any medications Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For pickup, call 305-289-2430 during office hours.
• In the Lower Keys, citizens can drop off medications at the Freeman Substation on Cudjoe Key or at the Sheriff’s Office headquarters building on Stock Island Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or call 305-745-3184 for pickup.

Caution: people who are going to bring their medications in themselves need to make sure to keep prescriptions in the prescription bottle until they drop them off to show proof the prescription is legitimately theirs. Possession of a controlled substance without proof of a prescription in your name is against the law.