St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office Drug Take-Back Day a success

St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office Drug Take-Back Day a success

Residents properly disposed of nearly 100 pounds of unwanted or expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications on Saturday, Oct. 27 as the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office participated in the annual National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, Sheriff James Pohlmann said. Narcotics officers with the St. Bernard Sheriff’s Office accepted the unwanted medications over a four-hour period at the Special Investigations Division substation, 7001 W. Judge Perez Drive in Arabi. Representatives from Ochsner Hospital’s Opioid Stewardship Program also participated in the event. “We are glad so many residents took advantage of this opportunity to clean out their medicine cabinets and get rid of unused drugs so they don’t fall into the hands of youngsters who might misuse them or thieves who could sell them on our streets,” Sheriff Pohlmann said. The Drug Take Back initiative, part of a national effort spearheaded by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, has seen more than 4.8 million pounds of prescription drugs collected nationwide since its inception in 2010. Sheriff Pohlmann said residents who could not make the recent Drug Take Back Day can properly dispose of unwanted medications year-round at the Sheriff’s Office substation located at 4700 Paris Road in Chalmette. The drop box located at the Paris Road substation was installed as part of an initiative by state Attorney General Jeff Landry, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators. The goal of the initiative is to have a location in every Louisiana parish where residents can drop off unwanted medications at any time in an effort to fight the opioid epidemic.