Sheriff, police, ship out over half a ton of drugs

By Brandi Makuski

Unwanted and leftover prescription drugs can be dropped off anytime in collection boxes at the Portage Co. Sheriff’s Office, and Stevens Point and Plover police departments, but it’s the twice-annual Drug Take-Back event that local law enforcement say is their real windfall.

Deputies and officers throughout the county were stationed at several locations on Friday and Saturday to collect old prescription medicines, an effort to remove the medications from homes before they fall into the wrong hands, or are improperly discarded in the water supply.

Stevens Point Police Officer Pat Stanislawski manned a collection point at the Lincoln Center on Saturday, saying he collected 230 pounds during a four-hour period.

“We had people bringing in big paper bags, they brought things from neighbors who were elderly, or they had a family member with cancer who were taking a lot of medication,” Stanislawski said.

On Monday, the three departments gathered to pile their boxes into a van for transport out of the area. At press, Sheriff Mike Lukas said the drugs were on their way to an out-of-state facility for incineration.

Lukas said the sheriff’s office’s biggest take over the weekend came from Friday’s collection in Amherst, where three of its six boxes collected throughout the week were filled. In total, the county filled 10 boxes in the past six months.

By comparison, he said, the city turned in about 475 pounds stored in 30 boxes, and the Plover Police Department had nine boxes weighing about 250 pounds. Each of the boxes weighed between 25 and 40 pounds, Lukas said.

It’s a slight dip from 2018 when the county shipped a total of about 1,500 pounds for destruction. In 2017, the county shipped out about 800 pounds of medications.

Another Drug Take-Back event will be held in April.