Operation Medicine Cabinet nets 50-pound catch

Nov, 24-2009 3:58 pm

MARGATE — When the Margate Police Department joined dozens of other police departments across the state in setting up Operation Medicine Cabinet Saturday, Nov. 14, the idea was to make the community a little safer by collecting old, outdated and expired medication.

The idea worked.

Margate Detective Sgt. Chris Koch said they collected so much old medication in Margate that it did not fit in the box supplied by the DEA.

“I had to call to get another box to put all the stuff in,” said Koch on Nov. 19. “We collected more than 50 pounds of expired or unused medications. All of it was turned over to the DEA and they will incinerate the medication.”

Working under the direction of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, local law enforcement set up shop in their stations in an effort to keep potentially harmful drugs out of the wrong hands and to safely dispose of products that had expired.

Koch said the one-time operation was so successful that it most likely is going to become an annual effort.

– Suzanne Marino