Full Notification

In an effort to improve our ability to safely manage the Operation Medicine Cabinet program, the Sheriff’s Office has temporarily removed the majority of its prescription drug collection kiosks from Sheriff’s Office facilities. We are in the process of obtaining new, purpose-built prescription drug collection kiosks that will enhance usability to the public, and improve the ability of our personnel to safely operate the program. We anticipate that the new kiosks will be installed and operational within the next few weeks.

In order to assist in maintaining some capacity for community members needing to dispose of unwanted medications during the kiosk replacement process, we will continue to maintain one Operation Medicine Cabinet kiosk at our Sheriff’s Headquarters facility, located at 4434 Calle Real, in Santa Barbara. The Headquarters kiosk is the most frequently utilized Operation Medicine Cabinet kiosk.

Operation Medicine Cabinet is a joint partnership between the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and Santa Barbara County Public Works - Resource Recovery and Waste Management Division. Operation Medicine Cabinet provides community members with a readily available and lawful mechanism for disposing of expired or unneeded prescription medications or illicit drugs. The Santa Barbara County Operation Medicine Cabinet program has been in operation for approximately five years. During this time, more than 30,000 pounds of unwanted prescription medications and illicit drugs have been collected and destroyed. Removing these drugs from medicine cabinets across the county has prevented accidental ingestion, misuse, overdose, and has kept drugs from being introduced into our water supplies.