Drug drop off program now available in the Lower Keys

The Sheriff’s Office is offering an environmentally friendly program to allow people to dispose safely of no-longer-needed prescription drugs and other medications. This program is now up and running in the Lower Keys and in the Upper Keys. It will soon be offered county wide.

People living from Stock Island to the Seven Mile Bridge can stop by the Freeman Substation on Cudjoe Key and drop off old, outdated medications during business hours, or they can call and a deputy will stop by and pick the medications up. The drug disposal program is also operating in the upper Keys, from Plantation Key to Key Largo. The medications will then be burned by Detective Sgt. Bobby Randolph, who operates the Sheriff’s Burn Unit and who holds a special license to burn narcotics.

People who call to have medications picked up can do so with no questions asked. “Our goal here is to dispose of this stuff properly, not to catch people with illegal pills,” said Lieutenant Gene Thompson, Commander of the Freeman Substation.

Proper disposal of prescription and over the counter medications is important. Flushing them down the toilet or sink can introduce dangerous and environmentally damaging substances into the water system; throwing them away in the trash can also introduce them into the environment, and runs the risk of them winding up in the wrong hands.

If you are part of an organization, like a Crime Watch group or a Homeowners Association, and would like us to collect old medications at one of your meetings, in the Lower Keys, call 305-745-3184; in the upper Keys, call 305-853-3211.