MOUNT VERNON – A stack of pills five feet high in the Knox County Sheriff’s Office evidence room continues to grow, but the purchase of a “Drug Terminator” should solve that problem.
The Sheriff’s Office purchased the portable drug incinerator (as the Mount Vernon News reported in Wednesday's print edition) to help dispose of drugs and contraband. Sheriff David Shaffer learned about the Drug Terminator incinerator at a sheriff’s association meeting. After investigating its usefulness, the Sheriff’s Office bought one for Knox County, Capt. Jay Sheffer said.
“We have a drug drop box in our front lobby for people to drop off old, outdated prescriptions,” said Sheffer, who has managed the drop box. He took over from the sheriff in 2013, who previously managed it before his election to office in 2013.
The incinerator will be used to burn seized drugs that are no longer needed as evidence in criminal cases, along with prescription drugs that local residents put in the drop off box located in the sheriff’s office lobby at 11540 Upper Gilchrist Road.
In 2019, the Sheriff’s Office collected 346.82 pounds of pills, “no packaging or bottles or anything, it's just the weight of pills,” Sheffer said. In 2020, an additional 303.06 pounds of pills were left in the drop box, and so far this year, local residents have dropped off 185.26 pounds of pills.
The “best year” for collections was 2017, when 522.8 pounds of pills were left in the drop box at the Sheriff’s Office.
“We've got to do something with the pills in order to get rid of them. So, typically we would work with a local funeral home. And when their incinerator was up and running, we would run them through their incinerator,” Sheffer said.
The department got court orders to legally dispose of the drugs. But it was limited on how much it could push through the funeral home’s incinerator and to the times it was up and running, he said.
The Sheriff’s Office isn’t the only drug drop box location in the county. The Mount Vernon, Fredericktown and Danville police departments oversee their own drop boxes, he said.
At times, a new bottle of pills will have as few as four pills, but it came in that bottle inside a box and with instructions, he said.
“It's only supposed to be pills but people drop liquid, cream and injectables needles. They drop all sorts of stuff in there that not necessarily should be. But just to get rid of it, they do,” Sheffer said.
All pills must be removed from their container and placed in a clear plastic bag before putting them into the drug drop box. No liquids or sharps are permitted. Liquids can be mixed with coffee grounds, cat litter or other absorbent material and then disposed of with normal trash, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The incinerator was purchased (for $4,725) with funds from the drug seizure and fine fund, along with the furtherance of justice fund.
