FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad (CMANS) announces that CMANS Agents will be in attendance at this year’s Cherokee Night-Out-Against –Crime to “Take-Back” out of date and unused prescriptions drugs that people may have in their home. Prescription drugs are a continuing problem in our communities, and Agents hope to emphasis that when prescription drugs are no longer needed they should be properly disposed of.
In the last two years, according to the Georgia Drug and Narcotics Agency, drug overdoses involving prescription drugs have outpaced overdoses from illicit drugs in Georgia. Many times young people get access to these drugs when parents or grandparents have strong pain medication in the home that were left over after surgery or significant medical needs have passed.
Another concern is that when people flush drugs into the sewage system, the drinking water in a community can contain detectable levels of drugs. The drug Take-Back Program disposes of drugs without putting them into the water system, and thus is a safer way to dispose of medications.
Agents will be in attendance to take these left over drugs and be sure that they are legally and safely disposed of. All drugs will by secured and handled by sworn law enforcement personnel from the point of receipt to the point of destruction. No personal information will be collected or logged, and that includes the information printed on the prescription bottles (Agents will black out patient names and addresses to insure confidentiality).
Citizens who want to participate in the program should bring any no-longer-needed or out of date prescription medications IN THE ORIGINAL BOTTLES to the table operated by the CMANS Agents at the Cherokee Night-Out-Against-Crime event on October 7, 2010. It is illegal to bring the medication outside of the prescription bottles, so be sure to bring them in inside that original container. Agents will collect the drugs and then secure them for transportation to a confidential location where the drugs will be destroyed in a method approved by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad is a joint task force working in Cherokee County to investigate drug related violations. Participating agencies include the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, the Canton Police Department, the Woodstock Police Department, the Holly Springs Police Department, the Ball Ground Police Department, the District Attorney’s Office for the Blue Ridge Judicial Circuit, the Cherokee County BOE Police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia State Patrol. Citizens may call in tips anonymously to (770) 345- 7920, or may speak to an agent by calling (770) 704-2350.
