RALEIGH — Seven tons of old or unnecessary medication — including more than 200 pounds from Richmond County — were destroyed by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday.
The SBI sent 15,442 pounds of medicine turned in during Operation Medicine Drop to an incinerator in Alamance County, according to a release from the SBI. The campaign calls for state residents to give their expired or unneeded medicine to their local law enforcement agencies, which turn them over to the SBI. The SBI’s eight field offices handed the medicine over for disposal.
Patty McQuillan, a communications officer with the SBI, said that 232.68 pounds of prescription medicine were turned in from Richmond County alone. Of that, the Rockingham Police Department took in 118.78 pounds and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office collected 113.9 pounds.
In Anson, 60.5 pounds, or about 30,250 dosage units, were collected by the Anson County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the SBI release, the seven tons of disposed medication totaled about 7.7 million dosage units.
“Destroying unused medications not only keeps drugs out of the reach of children, but helps remove an adult’s temptation to consume unused pills that could lead to addiction,” SBI Director Bob Schurmeier said in the release. “The SBI will continue to partner with other agencies to help prevent tragedies that can occur with overdoses of medications.”
Reach Anson Record reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.