Sheriff’s Office Collects 217 Pounds of Medication

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office collected 217 pounds of unused medications during the DrugEnforcement Administration (DEA) Prescription Drug Take Back event on Saturday, April 28.   Many Lake County residents arrived at the Beach Park and Deer Park Village Halls to do their part in properly disposing of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medications.

“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office will continue to work with the DEA on keeping these medications out of the hands of our children”, said Sheriff Mark Curran.  “Prescription drug abuse among our youth has been on the rise and we will continue to work in conjunction with the DEA to combat this potential epidemic”. 

This event would not have been possible without the joint efforts of Zion/Beach Park/Winthrop Harbor Coalition for Healthy Communities, the Village of Beach Park, the Village of Deer Park and the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Reserve Deputy Unit.

 Permanent Prescription Drug Drop-off Boxes are available throughout Lake County, including Lake Zurich.  Locations can be found at the Save a Star Drug Awareness Foundation website.

Save A Star is helping initiate Drug Disposal Programs in communities across the United States. The goal of the program is to keep drugs out of the hands of young children and those who might use drugs for recreational purposes.

Each year nearly 700,000 emergency room visits were attributed to prescription drug overdoses and drug deaths have doubled in the last decade and now outnumber traffic fatalities in the United States, according to the Save a Star website.