Bruce Hertel and Chuck White were way off from their estimate.

The Ellis County Undersheriff and Detective thought they might handle 60 pounds of drugs Saturday during National Take Back Prescription Drugs Day.

Instead, the public dropped off a total 136 pounds, more than double the estimate, of unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs in the Law Enforcement Center parking lot in Hays.

“This is the seventh year the Ellis County Drug Enforcement Unit has participated,” says Hertel.  “We usually do it every six months.  Last time, September 12, 2012, people brought in 86 pounds.”

The nationwide collection total in October 2010, the most recent figures available, was 242,000 pounds–121 tons–of drugs.

Take-Back Day is organized by the federal Drug Enforcement Association to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding  homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs.