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Home/Press Release/OCPO MAKES ANOTHER RECORD PILL BURN RUN YIELDING 4,460 LBS. OF PRESCRIPTION/DRUGS DESTROYED
OCPO Pill Burn 3

OCPO MAKES ANOTHER RECORD PILL BURN RUN YIELDING 4,460 LBS. OF PRESCRIPTION/DRUGS DESTROYED

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Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato today announced that the concerted efforts of Ocean County Law Enforcement and residents continue to bring great success in disposing of unused prescription medications.  On Thursday (8/3) OCPO broke the previous pill burn record of 3,280 lbs. by supervising the safe disposal of 4,460 lbs. (equivalent of 2 tons) of unused prescription meds.  Since the programs start in the summer of 2014, Twenty Six Thousand Eight Hundred Forty (26,840) pounds of various medicines have been destroyed between October 3, 2014 and August 3, 2017.  Below is the list of burn dates and totals:

  • October 3, 2014 2220 lbs.
  • March 27, 2015 2880 lbs.
  • July 17, 2015 2520 lbs.
  • October 29, 2015 2300 lbs.
  • December 2, 2015 1040 lbs.
  • April 13, 2016 2380 lbs.
  • July 20, 2016 2960 lbs.
  • October 26, 2016 2800 lbs
  • March 1, 2017 3280 lbs
  • August 3, 2017 4,460 lbs

Prosecutor Coronato stated, “The over 26,000 lbs. of unused prescription medications destroyed to date is nothing short of incredible.  It is frightening to think how many times unused medications may have ended up in the wrong hands or used illegally.  We implore Ocean County residents to police their medicine chests and purge unused meds to prevent potentially dangerous scenarios.  Forgotten pain killing medications lead to addiction, teens becoming unwitting drug dealers and children becoming poison victims just to name a few”.

Project Medicine Drop is the countywide initiative to make disposal of unused medications an easy convenient priority for Ocean County residents.  With just under half of the municipalities in Ocean County having easily accessible medication drop boxes at police department entrances there is no excuse not to clean out and drop off these potentially dangerous meds.  Please do your part to “Clean Out & Drop Off” those unused meds.  For more info Click Here  or go to oceancountyprosecutor.org

Program coordinator OCPO Lt. Cindy Boyd states, “When the boxes reach ceiling height it is time for a burn.”

Lt.Boyd has made the right call – the burn load barely clears the trucks rear door.

Just before lowering the burn door and destroying the latest load of unused meds