Sheriff’s Office collects record amount – 147 pounds of prescription medications and other drugs turned in by residents in drug take-back day; Can also call SBSO to arrange collection of old

Sheriff James Pohlmann and Maj. Chad Clark hold on one of the large containers collected of prescription drugs turned in by the public at the drug take-back day in Chalmette on Sept. 26. Some 147 pounds, a record amount, in Chalmette, was collected to be destroyed. With them from left are Charles Mengel, store manager of the Walgreens in Chalmette where the event was held; Cpl. Jessica Gernados, Capt. Pat Childress, Walgreens employee Cheryl Cage and Capt. Ronnie Martin.

Gabrielle Eschette of Chalmette turns in a large amount of old prescription drugs at the drug take-back day at the Walgreens in Chalmette on Sept. 26. Behind her is Cpl. Jessica Gernados of the Sheriff’s Office.

Karen Salathe of Chalmette puts prescription drugs in a take-back container, assisted by Capt. Pat Childress and Maj. Chad Clark of the Sheriff’s Office.

Several people said Saturday, Sept. 26, they were glad to see the Sheriff’s Office holding a drug take-back day at the Walgreens in Chalmette in conjunction with federal drug authorities because they didn’t know what else to do with medications they didn’t need any longer but also didn’t want to fall into the wrong hands.

“We’ve been waiting to do this,’’ Julie Eschette of Chalmette said as she turned over expired and no longer needed prescriptions to the Sheriff’s Office to be destroyed. “You don’t know what to do with them. We didn’t want to just throw them away” because they could be found and abused.

Authorities also say prescription drugs shouldn’t be flushed in a toilet because the water eventually ends up in marshes and can affect seafood and wildlife.

A record amount of prescription and other medications were turned in at the drug take-back event, some 147 pounds in four hours, Sheriff James Pohlmann said, thanking everyone who brought in drugs they didn’t need or want any longer.
“This has been a great partnership with Walgreens which provides us space in their customer parking lot to collect the drugs,’’ the sheriff said “The 147 pounds collected from the public means those pills and other drugs never reach the streets to be abused, often by young people.’’

Studies show young people usually start abusing pills by stealing them from medicine cabinets at the homes of relatives or from parents of friends, he said.

Sheriff Pohlmann also assured people that they can call the Sheriff’s Office at any time to make arrangements to have prescription medications collected to be destroyed and don’t have to wait for an official drug take-back day.
Call the Narcotics Unit on its drug hotline number at (504) 271-DOPE, which is 271-3673, and an officer will either answer or call you back to make arrangements for a pick-up, he said. Call the same number to anonymously report illegal drug activity you believe may be taking place in the parish, the sheriff said. All calls will be acted upon.
Charles Mengel, store manager for the Walgreens at Paris Road and Judge Perez Drive, and his staff took part in the event with narcotics officers, while representatives of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration also visited.
It was the tenth time in five years the Sheriff’s Office has taken part with DEA in a drug take-back day. Nationally, about five million pounds of drugs were collected in the previous nine events.

Maj. Chad Clark, who commands the Sheriff Office Special Investigations Division which includes the Narcotics Unit, said the drug take-back day is aimed at “trying to reduce the risk of addiction and the 46,000 deaths across the country each year that come with prescription drug abuse.’’

St. Bernard Parish has been successful in lowering the number of drug overdose deaths in recent years due to several factors including the drug-take back days, education programs taught in schools by sheriff’s officers and vigorous enforcement of drug laws, Clark said.