The Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office is being proactive in its efforts to properly dispose of excess drugs in the area. It has installed a public drug drop depository for citizens to use.

The drug drop box was set up Feb. 15 in the lobby of the sheriff’s department at 5842 U.S. 41 in Ringgold.

The box is a place for people to get rid of expired or unused drugs, instead of flushing them down the drain, toilet, or simply throwing them in the trash.

Sheriff Gary Sisk, who took office in January, says it’s a project he hopes is adopted by other sheriff’s departments throughout the state.

“It’s the only box set up in our area right now, but all the counties in the state have been introduced to it, and we’re anticipating that other counties in north Georgia will have something similar implemented in the near future,” Sisk said. “We are one of the first offices to offer it, but the hope is there’s a push for it with every sheriff’s office.”

Sisk said citizens have already made deposits in the box over its first couple of days in use.

“We’ve had it for a little bit, but we got it set up and mounted in the lobby on Friday, and when we checked it Monday morning there had already been some things dropped off in there,” Sisk said.

The box is designed to house items such as unused or expired prescriptions, inhalers, over-the-counter medications, medications samples, pet medications, and liquid medications.

It also has instructions on items that should not be deposited such as needles, syringes, thermometers, IV bags, hydrogen peroxide, and bloody or infectious waste.

Sisk says that the primary reason for the box is so that different drugs and medications do not fall into the wrong hands.

“By bringing these items to the sheriff’s office for proper disposal, it eliminates the chances of family members, teenagers, and children taking or using drugs that aren’t theirs,” Sisk said. “A lot of the time, that’s how children and teenagers get a hold of these drugs … from medicine cabinets at home.”