WALHALLA — The Oconee County Sheriff’s Office will host ts next Pill Take Back Day on Oct. 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Sheriff’s Office Substation located near the Emergency Room at Oconee Memorial Hospital.
The Sheriff’s Office will be accepting old or no longer needed prescription medication, in pill or liquid form, plus over the counter medication and vitamins so those medications can be disposed of properly.
“The Pill Take Back Days will make it possible for the Sheriff’s Office not only to safely collect but safely dispose of these medications,” said Lt. Jeremy Chapman of the Special Operations Division of the Sheriff’s Office. “This will prevent these medications from damaging the environment from being disposed of in the wrong place and also prevent these medications from getting into the hands of children or other individuals to protect them from harm.”
The Sheriff’s Office would like to remind our citizens that a Drug Collection Unit is located inside the mail lobby of the Law Enforcement Center at 300 S. Church St. in Walhalla. This unit, which was awarded to the Sheriff’s Office based on a grant from CVS Pharmacy, was placed in the Law Enforcement Center earlier this summer.
Citizens can bring by their unused prescription and over the counter medications and empty the contents into the Unit during normal business hours.
The Sheriff’s Office is asking those who bring medication in pill form to either the Pill Take Back Day or to the Drug Collection Unit to make sure to bring medications in their marked prescription bottles. They should then empty the contents into containers and then take the bottles to be recycled.
The Sheriff’s Office has collected approximately 296.4 pounds of medication during earlier Pill Take Back Days this year and approximately 204 pounds of medication as a result of the Drug Collection Unit.
In 2015, the Sheriff’s Office collected approximately 910 pounds of pills and liquid prescription medication.
