JPD to launch pill drop-off

In the wake of the death by overdose of Jacksboro High School student Trey Pruitt, the Jacksboro Police Department is offering a program to safely remove unwanted medicines.

Chief Terry McDaniel said the department will host a pill drop-off program next month. It will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 4 at the Jack County Courthouse.

“We’ll cone off the parking spaces on the north side of the square. People can pull up and hand them to us and we’ll ship them off for destruction,” he said.

McDaniel said the program is being hosted in conjunction with STOMP, Standing Together on Meth Prevention, and plans for the service have been discussed for some time.

“It’s something that it’s obvious there’s a need for this so we thought this was a good time to start,” the chief said.

The program will take unused over-the-counter and prescription medicines which will then be secured until they are shipped to the Drug Enforcement Administration - Dallas office which will destroy them.

Having lost three local teens in less than two months, the police department is also planning to form a team to help emergency responders cope with issues following tragedies.

McDaniel said a Critical Incident Stress Management team from Wichita Falls will train facilitators for debriefings after incidents.

“Hopefully we can have a couple of representatives from the police, the sheriff’s office, EMS and the fire department take part in the training,” he said.

CISM intervention takes place after a crisis and typically consists a group session that allows participants to talk about what they have been through and discuss it with other people who were involved in the event.

“We’ve had a couple in the last couple of months in response to critical incidents emergency responders have responded to,” McDaniel said. It’s been a trying couple of months with some of the recent tragedies that have happened. Things like that affect different people in different ways.

“We just wanted to be able to have that available should there be a need for it at some point in the future.”