People from around the community came to the American River College branch of the Los Rios Police Department on Saturday, Sept. 27 not because they were in trouble, but to dispose of their unwanted prescriptions and medications.
This event was put on by the LRPD in an effort to help people dispose of their expired or unused medications in a way that would prove safe and keep them from falling into the wrong hands.
The event was from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Anyone could come and drop off their medications in a discrete bin placed just inside the police department portable near the back of Davies Hall.
The event welcomed all types of drugs to be brought to the department for disposal, some prescription, some just expired medications, and even creams and ointments. However, the department did not accept needles or sharps do to the fact that the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, or DEA, cannot accept medications or objects of that nature.
This event happens once every year and is not just limited to ARC, as can be seen by a statement given by Dustin Poore, a Los Rios police officer who was supervising the event.
“We do this on all of our (Los Rios) campuses,” he said. “The main four at least.”
Poore went on further to say that its not just the Los Rios Community College District that organizes events like this.
Every year on that same day law enforcement agencies from all over Sacramento have the same event where people can come and drop off their unwanted prescription drugs and people really seem to take advantage of the opportunity it presents to rid their homes of those substances.
According to the news release issued by the LRPD, last April Americans turned in over 390 tons of prescription drugs because of events like the one held at ARC.
Poore stated that they plan on holding the event next year as well.
Looking at the statistics of last April’s turn out, as mentioned in the previous news release, it goes without saying that next years drug recycling event may prove to have equally promising results as the previous events like it.
