Sgt. Chad Richardson, Community Outreach team supervisor, has coordinated three collections that have produced over 250 pounds of unwanted medicines. Greer partners with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) national program.
“Being the week before Halloween with parties and a football weekend, I thought it did well,” Richardson said at the City Council meeting tonight. “It was half (150 pounds) of what we did in the spring.”
The drugs are collected anonymously and incinerated at the police department.
The DEA has suggested the Greer police department provide a permanent, secure drop for people wanting to dispose of their unwanted or outdated medicines. “People go shopping and forget about the collection days so a permanent drop, where it’s picked up every two to three days, would help the public,” Richardson said.
The public is asked to remove the labels but Richardson said the incineration process also secures anonymity.
The documentation of drugs would increase with a permanent drop. The seasonal collections can be reported under one document while individual drops would require separate reports.
Richardson said the collection days are bittersweet. “It’s sad, at times, when cases of unused medicines are dropped off, usually by the elderly. That signals that someone has passed away.” The DEA prohibits the returned medicines to be redirected in the U.S. or to other countries.