![\"shrbadge\"](\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/shrbadge.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSan Andreas, CA…In 2015, approximately 3,017 pounds of unused\/unwanted drugs were collected for disposal.
\nThe Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Angels Camp Police Department held a number of \u201cDrop the Drugs\u201d events in 2015. On December 15th alone, we collected 111 pounds of unused and\/or unwanted prescription medications at three locations in the county. This program not only helps to protect the environment, it can also deter the usage of prescription drugs by unintended parties \u2013 including young people facing peer pressure and new ways to \u201cget high.\u201d The Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office constantly strives to be proactive in enhancing public safety and saving lives.<\/p>\n
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During these \u201cDrop the Drugs\u201d events, Calaveras community members were given the opportunity to prevent prescription and other drug misuse and abuse by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted drugs. Several of these events were possible through funding from the Anti-Drug Abuse Justice Assistance Grant. \u201cDrop the Drugs\u201d is free for community members and anonymous. No questions asked.<\/p>\n
This year, the Angels Camp Police Department joined the Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office by providing a secure lock box in their lobby at headquarters where members of the public can dispose of their unused\/unwanted prescription medications at any time during business hours. We have heard story after story from families that had been storing these medications after the loss of a family member or other situations. Many people who have participated in our program said they just didn\u2019t know what to do with the unwanted prescription medications. to receive notifications from the Sheriff\u2019s Office of when these events will take place as well as other advisory information of community concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" San Andreas, CA…In 2015, approximately 3,017 pounds of unused\/unwanted drugs were collected for disposal. The Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office and Angels Camp Police Department held a number of \u201cDrop the Drugs\u201d events in 2015. On December 15th alone, we collected 111 pounds of unused and\/or unwanted prescription medications at three locations in the county. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1293,"featured_media":5998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,20,5,16,4,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communities","category-education","category-featured","category-government","category-law-enforcement","category-life-style","category-news","category-traffic-fire","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/calaveras-county-sheriffs-office.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1293"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nStoring unwanted or expired medicines in our homes contributes to the epidemic of medicine abuse and accidental poisonings. When flushed or thrown away, unused medicines are hazardous waste that pollutes our waters and environment. Our Drop the Drugs program offers the only secure and environmentally sound way to dispose of leftover medicines.
\n\u2022 Wastewater treatment facilities don\u2019t destroy pharmaceuticals that are flushed. Most drugs pass through treatment plants and into our surface, ground, and marine waters.
\n\u2022 Trash disposal is not secure\u2013 especially for narcotics and other highly addictive and dangerous drugs. Even if pills are crushed or adulterated before they\u2019re thrown in the trash \u2013 which is a dangerous practice itself \u2013 the drugs retain their biological and chemical activity and can still get into the environment. Trash disposal simply puts the environmental problem of these persistent toxic chemicals onto future generations.
\n\u2022 Pets can be poisoned by medicines thrown in the trash. The Animal Poison Control Center handled more than 46,000 cases in the U.S. of pets exposed to medicines in 2009. (ASPCA)
\n\u2022 Toxic leftover medicines are household hazardous waste that should not be put into landfills.
\n\u2022 High temperature incineration at properly permitted facilities is currently the safest disposal method for toxic left-over medicines. That\u2019s how the pharmaceutical industry disposes of their unwanted medicines.
\nThe Calaveras County Sheriff\u2019s Office will continue to provide \u201cDrop the Drugs\u201d events in the coming year. Please register at www.nixle.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n