The Marana Police Department has worked hard with their community partners to conduct Dispose-A-Med Events, which have been successful in getting unused prescription drugs off the street.
The program had one of their best outings last month when 569 pounds of drugs were collected in a two-hour period. Because of this great community effort, one of MPD’s officers was given an award at Tuesday’s Marana Town Council meeting.
Nancy Lyngby, president of the Marana – Foothills Optimist Club, recognized Marana Police Officer David Danielson by presenting him with a certificate for his service to Marana. He was specifically recognized for the Dispose-A-Med program and for “Bringing Out The Best in Kids.”
“He has been absolutely fabulous to work worth,” said Lyngby.
Danielson recently began overseeing the program, inheriting an already successful model from prior officers Lori Shepherd, Steve Johnson and Kevin Litton and trying to keep building it bigger and bigger.
“They laid the foundation for this program and provided me the tools for me to make sure that this goes forward in the right direction,” Danielson said.
Previous events were averaging between 120-150 pounds of drugs collected and the idea was to expand it. Between Marana Police, the Optimist Club and other community partners they worked hard to expand coverage of the event, utilizing the media and social media accounts. The exposure worked, as they collected almost 600 pounds of drugs.
Now their goal is to get 1,000 pounds at their October 14 event. So far this year they have collected over 1,200 pounds and still have additional events in October and December.
Lyngby praised Danielson’s ability to motivate volunteers, while Danielson praised the hard work of the Marana Police Department’s volunteers, the VIP’s.
“I have not seen this many volunteers show up to do a dispose a med in years and that is a real testament to him,” Lyngby said.
Marana’s two final Dispose-A-Meds will be Saturday, October 14 and Saturday, December 9 in front of the Target at Ina and Thornydale from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
