[StBernard] Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in Sept. 27 in Chalmette

[Westley Annis]

Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in Sept. 27 in Chalmette
Print NOLA Community Submission By NOLA Community Submission 
on September 14, 2014 at 9:32 AM, updated September 14, 2014 at 9:33 AM

With an average of 110 Americans dying each day from prescription drug
overdoses, St. Bernard Sheriff James Pohlmann is urging residents not to let
their unused prescription medications such as pain-killer pills fall into
the wrong hands and ruin someone's life.

Instead, turn them in to the Sheriff's Office Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. to 2
p.m. in the parking lot of Walgreens pharmacy in Chalmette at Judge Perez
Drive and Paris Road, where a drug take-back day will be held.

Sponsored nationally by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, drug
take-back days have helped keep prescription drugs off the street, the
sheriff said, which is important because studies show young people often
first abuse prescription drugs after stealing them from medicine chests at
the homes of relatives or parents of friends.

For the third time since April 2013, the Sheriff's Office is partnering with
Walgreens to provide an easily accessible place for area residents to turn
in expired or no longer needed prescription medications to make sure they
don't fall into the wrong hands.

The two previous drug take-back days at Walgreens have been very successful,
with more than 100 pounds of medications turned in by the public, Sheriff
Pohlmann said.

"Don't let young people get hooked on pills they find while visiting you,''
Pohlmann said, and "don't throw medication in the garbage where it can be
found or down the toilet where it can end up affecting wildlife or seafood
in marshes.''

The national average of 110 Americans dying daily from overdoses on
prescription medication is an alarming number, Pohlmann said, and St.
Bernard Parish residents have been among the victims over the years.  

Officers from the sheriff's Special Investigations Division, commanded by
Maj. Chad Clark, will be at the Walgreens parking lot from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
to collect medications.

The Sheriff's Office has participated for several years in the national drug
take-back day and locally it was the Sheriff's Office that began its own
take-back day in 2009 called "Operation Medicine Cabinet,'' which encouraged
residents to clean out their medicine cabinets of old prescription drugs and
turn them in to the department.

St. Bernard residents are reminded they also can call the sheriff's 271-DOPE
hot line (271-3673) any time to turn in prescription drugs between official
drug take-back days. An officer will call them back to make arrangements for
collection.

Also, residents should call the same number to anonymously report any
suspected illegal drug activity in St. Bernard Parish. All calls will be
acted upon.

The information in this article and picture were provided by the St. Bernard
Sheriff's Office Director of Public Information Steve Cannizaro.