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CHARLEVOIX - Sheriff George T. Lasater and Liaison Officer William D. Schneider of the Charlevoix County Sheriff's Office announced a new program for the disposal of prescription drugs. According to the Sheriff's Office, this has become a very serious problem on several levels and this initiative is a pro-active approach to the dealing with the issues.

"We are offering to dispose prescription drugs in a proper fashion which is environmentally safe," Schneider said. "I think there are a number of things that prompted this. It is basically a two fold problem. Number one, people are passing away, the drugs that they were using, whether it be pain medication or whatever, the family doesn't know what to do with them. That's the first small problem."

Schneider went on to say the concerns escalate when young children or anybody else with a drug abuse problem, has access to these drugs which according to Schneider is happening now. Just last year the Sheriff's Office had a case where a gentleman died after overdosing on Oxycotton. It was supplied to him from a friend who had taken the drugs from his grandparent who had just passed away.

Schneider said the program is a protective measure on all counts, safety, use and disposal.

"There is also the issue of people's homes being broken into. It's not unusual for us to take reports on someone's medication, particularly Oxycotton or methadone. Those are the drugs of choice for a lot of people right now," Schneider explained. "They are breaking into homes to steal these medications. That's another problem."

There is also the environmental concern when disposing of prescription drugs. Schneider said the drug manufacturers are telling people to flush unwanted drugs down the toilet.

"The system does not break the chemicals down and it goes out to our rivers and lakes. Obviously this is not good for our environment," Schneider added. "The disposed prescriptions end up in the water supply system."

The Sheriff's Office will now accept prescription drugs from citizens. The prescriptions received will be treated as evidence which means they will receipt any drugs turned in and document when and how they will destroy them.

With the seriousness of accounting for the controlled substances, the Sheriff is asking all citizens wishing to use this service to contact the Sheriff's Office to make an appointment to dispose of the drugs by calling 231-547-4461.

Jeff Bergren can be reached at jbergren@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-582-6761.