On Nov. 9, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Drug Free Southwest Florida and Abby Services challenged Lee County residents to dispose of all unused, unwanted and expired medicine by participating in the American Medicine Cabinet Challenge.

Lee County residents turned in more than 66 pounds of medications during the challenge.

The LCSO has made “safely disposing of unused, unwanted and expired medicine” easy – drop off medications by using one of the drug drop off boxes located throughout Lee County.

Resident do not have to wait for an event to make a drop off because the boxes have been made available during normal business hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

The following locations have drop boxes:

– 121 Pondella Road, North Fort Myers

– 13921Waterfront Drive, Suite 4, Pineland

– 1301 Homestead Road, Lehigh Acres

– 15650 Pine Ridge Road, Fort Myers

– 8951 Bonita Beach Road, Suite 565, Bonita Springs

– 12995 Cleveland Ave. S., Suite 171, Fort Myers

– 14750 Six Mile Cypress Parkway, Fort Myers

The boxes do not accept sharps, including needles and lancets.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled prescription drug abuse an epidemic, reporting the death toll from overdoses of prescription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade, and more than 40 people die every day from overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers.

According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers obtained them from friends or relatives, and there has been a 400 percent increase in substance abuse treatment admissions for people abusing prescription drugs.

Source: Lee County Sheriff’s Office