You wouldn’t leave a loaded gun around your house. So don’t leave prescription medicines around either. They can be deadly to a toddler who finds a pill case in grandma’s purse. And as unbelievable as it sounds, kids as young as 12 are swiping medicine bottles from medicine cabinets and having pill popping parties. It’s become a cool activity with deadly results and prevention is the key. Treat your prescription medicines like you would a weapon. Lock ‘em up. If you don’t need them anymore, get them out of your house by properly disposing of them. This Saturday Pinellas County Sheriff’s office will have multiple drop off locations in a program called Operation Medicine Cabinet.

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The Pinellas County Sherrif’s office and the Clearwater Police Department in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Pinellas County Diversion Task Force Coalition as well as other law enforcement agencies and partnering businesses are participating in another installment of Operation Medicine Cabinet.

 The event is an opportunity for citizens to safely discard unused or expired prescription medications, with no questions asked. The multi-agency effort is aimed at addressing the problem of prescription drug abuse and keeping a clean environment.

Citizens can stop by Westfield Countryside Mall (east parking lot) on Saturday, April 28 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to drop off medications for safe collection and disposal. No bio-hazards or needles will be accepted and the program is intended for private citizens of Pinellas County, not for commercial use. There are a total of 14 drop-off locations in Pinellas County.
For a complete listing, visit http://tinyurl.com/7laffvn.

Operation Medicine Cabinet provides a safe way of destroying the pharmaceuticals through incineration. By burning the pharmaceuticals as opposed to flushing or sending medication to the landfill, polluting the environment can be avoided.