Take-back event removes unused, expired drugs from homes
Tables overflow with prescription medications turned in during last weekend’s Operation Medicine Drop. (Photos courtesy of Alicia Wildcat/CIPD)
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Executive Office, Cherokee Indian Police Department, NC Cooperative Extension, Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority, Housing and the Health and Medical Divisions of the EBCI, announces that the Operation Medicine Drop prescription drug take-back event held on Saturday, May 22 collected and disposed of over 20,000 dosages of unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs from the public.
Cherokee Chief of Police Ben Reed stated, “With over twenty thousand pills removed from our community, we can definitely consider Operation Medicine Drop a success. These are meds that will not be abused, stolen, sold, or dispersed into the environment. A big thank you to everyone that participated!”
Heather James, of the EBCI Extension office, helps process unused prescription medications turned in during Saturday’s event.
The collections from the event included: over-the-counter medications collected: 1,500 and prescription medications collected: 18,500.
Operation Medicine Drop is sponsored across North Carolina by Safe Kids North Carolina, the N.C. Department of Insurance, State Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration. For more information about Operation Medicine Drop or for a schedule of statewide take-back events, visit www.ncsafekids.org and click on the Operation Medicine Drop logo.
For more photos of this event, please visit:
https://www.theonefeather.com/photo-galleries-2/?album=40&gallery=46
– Source: Alicia Wildcat, CIPD
