Louisiana police department invites people to turn in meth for 'testing'
The Harahan Police Department is very concerned about Zika virus in your meth -- and would love for you to just stop on by to drop it off for testing.
The department in Harahan, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, made the tongue-in-cheek post late Saturday on Facebook.
"If you have recently purchased meth in any area of Louisiana it may be contaminated with the Zika Virus," the post read. "Please bring all of it to your local Police Department and they will test it for free. If you're not comfortable coming to us, an officer will be glad to come to you and test your Meth in the privacy of your home."
The post was shared about 2,000 times and had garnered about 1,200 reactions in the first 12 hours.
For the record, Harahan police officer Keith Moody -- who operates the department Facebook page -- told ABC News no one had taken them up on their offer for a trip to the county jail.
"Although the post was originally a lighthearted attempt at humor, a lot of great (and incredibly raw) intelligence can be cultivated from the comments," Moody told ABC News in a message.
There were in fact nearly 300 comments on the post overnight.
"There is a lot of great information obtained by reading threads," Moody said. "Criminals have a tendency to say/do some pretty incriminating behavior when given the opportunity to 'blow off.'"
Jokes aside, Moody told ABC News drugs continue to be a central fight for the department.
"The Methamphetamine and opioid epidemic is alarming and show no sign of slowing soon," he said.
Louisiana saw 7.7 opioid overdose deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, which is in the middle of the pack in the U.S. (36th), according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Methamphetamines were the fourth-highest drug involved in deadly overdoses in 2016, the most recent numbers available, according to a Centers for Disease Control report issued just three weeks ago.
The Harahan Police Department actually did collect 708 pounds of prescription drugs at a take back event last year, according to NOLA.com.
