There Was No Party at the Sheriff's Office

 

by Pa Rock

Friend of Pharmacies

The older I get, the more pills I take - and invariably as things change over time, I wind up with leftovers.  So earlier this week when I learned that Saturday would be "National Prescription Drug Take Back Day," an opportunity for people to safely get rid of their accumulations of unused meds, I decided  to round mine up and turn them in.  Yesterday I took about an hour going through the storage shed, medicine cabinets, and several other places where I have at times packed away unused medications, and eventually came up with half-a-grocery-bag full of pill bottles.    This morning I took them to the local sheriff's office.

Most of what I had accumulated were older diabetes medicines that had been gradually become obsolete as my medical situation changed over the years - or as new and better medications had come on the market.  I found three or four bottles that I had picked up at the pharmacy of the Naval Hospital on Okinawa - twelve years ago!  I also came across some narcotic pain tables that were eight-years-old!

Clearly it was time to clean out the medicine cupboards in a safe and environmentally sound manner.

I'm not sure what I was expecting to encounter at the sheriff's office.  Perhaps some of my colorful neighbors would be sitting out front in the parking lot making last minute swaps before taking the ones they truly did not want inside.  Or at least a lot of commotion inside as deputies and trustys eagerly pawed through bags and boxes of pill bottles to learn about the types of things that the community had been "on."

But there were no long lines outside waiting to get in and dump their meds - and there was only one deputy in the lobby, and he was safely tucked behind heavy security glass.   I asked about the drug take back program, and he pointed to a red metal container behind me that resembled a mail collection box. In fact, it had a pull-down deposit slot, like a mail box, and I spent several minutes  unloading my bag into the slot, three or four bottles at a time.

I had anticipated at least a small measure of entertainment or excitement associated with the process of surrendering drugs at a law enforcement facility, but it turned out to be a very staid and stolid affair. 

Tomorrow I will mow - the thrills just keep coming!