CAPTAIN JAMES K. DURR
NARCOTICS DIVISION
PHONE: (561) 688-3812 FAX: (561) 688-3979 E-MAIL: Durrj@pbso.org
Operation Medicine Cabinet
Saturday May 30th, 2009 9am to 4pm
On January 17 and 24, 2009, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office conducted Operation “Medicine Cabinet.” The purpose of this operation was to increase public awareness of pharmaceutical diversion as well as collecting and destroying outdated or unneeded prescription drugs. Many people do not want to flush or throw away unneeded medications because these methods create a threat to our water system. Current federal regulations only allow law enforcement to receive controlled substances which creates many problems in national drug buyback programs.
Once again we are conducting the operation on May 30, 2009 from 9am to 4pm at the following 6 locations:
• Boca Raton Town Center Mall (By the main entrance off Glades in the north parking lot)
• Boynton Beach Mall
• CVS at 10th and Congress
• CVS at PGA & Military Trail
• Walgreens at the Wellington Mall
• Belle Glade @ PBCSO District V
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office realizes the need for our agency to partner with other organizations to conduct these types of operations. During our January Operation “Medicine Cabinet,” we collected 61,735 pills and issued 275 gift cards ($5 gift cards provided by CVS and Walgreen’s). We believe the operation was a tremendous success not only from the amount of prescription drugs we took in but by the comments and appreciation of the public who did not know what to do with their unwanted prescription drugs.
Our current sponsors Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, Aegis Laboratories, CVS Pharmacy,
Walgreens, Walmart, Palm Beach County Substance Abuse Coalition, Simon Properties and Palm Beach Atlantic University. Pharmaceutical Agents will be assigned to each location to collect medications and hand out gift cards at each location. Palm Beach Atlantic School of Pharmacology will assign students to each location to assist in the agents in counting the medications. In addition, Boca Raton Police Department, Boynton Beach Police Department, Palm Springs Police Department and Palm Beach Gardens Police Department will be providing additional manpower at the operation sites. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.