Sheriff’s office will be collecting unused medication April 30 in The Villages

The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration are offering residents a chance to clean out their medicine cabinets while reducing the threat of potentially dangerous prescription drugs falling into the wrong hands.

“Operation Medicine Cabinet” is scheduled for April 30. Residents can bring expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs to Winn-Dixie at Lake Sumter Landing, 820 Old Camp Road in The Villages – between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. This drive-through service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.  Needles or liquids cannot be accepted – only unwanted pills.

Sumter CAP (Community Action Partnership) Prevention Coalition will provide drug deactivation packets for residents to take home for future safe disposal of medications.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.  Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

In addition to the Sumter County “Operation Medicine Cabinet” take back day, there are many other ways to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs every day, including the permanent drop box locations available all year long in each of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Offices located in Bushnell, Wildwood and The Villages.

Sumter CAP also provides information on how to properly dispose of prescription drugs.  More information is available at  www.sumtercap.org