National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day This Saturday

 

National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day This Saturday

Poughkeepsie… Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro encourages the public’s participation in National Drug Take-Back Day, Saturday, April 28th. Residents are encouraged to dispose of all unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs safely and anonymously at any of the 10 permanent drop-off locations at law enforcement facilities throughout Dutchess County.

This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Vassar Brothers Medical Center, located at 45 Reade Place in Poughkeepsie, and Northern Dutchess Hospital, located at 6511 Springbrook Avenue in Rhinebeck, will also accept medications for disposal. Representatives from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and the Dutchess County STOP-DWI Program will be on hand at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, encouraging residents to utilize the 10 medication drop boxes located throughout Dutchess County – not just on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, but every day – and distributing information about the Dutchess County Prescription Medication Drop Box Program.

County Executive Molinaro said, “While the opioid crisis is the public health epidemic of our lifetime, we can all take steps to stem the tide of this epidemic. I urge residents to clean out their medicine cabinets, gather medications they no longer need and safely dispose of them in one of the many secure drop boxes in Dutchess County, keeping them out of the hands of those who might abuse them.”

Medications steadily accumulate in the home, where the vast majority are improperly discarded or stored indefinitely. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medications, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away, posing safety and environmental hazards.

In 2017, a total of 3,019 pounds of medications were collected at the 10 countywide drop-off locations, Office for the Aging senior picnics and public collection events, and destroyed. Since the Dutchess County Prescription Medication Drop Box Program was launched in 2014, more than 9,200 pounds of unwanted or unneeded medications have been safely collected and destroyed.

By allowing residents to anonymously dispose of unused and unwanted prescription medications throughout the year at permanent medication disposal sites, the Dutchess County Prescription Medication Drop Box Program proactively addresses drug abuse throughout the County.

The following drop-off locations are accessible 24 hours a day, seven days a week:

Additional drop-off locations are accessible during the following days/hours:

  • Village of Millerton Police Department, 21 Dutchess Ave., Millerton
    • MondayFriday9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturday, noon-midnightSunday4 p.m.-midnight
  • Village of Red Hook Police Department, 7467 South Broadway, Red Hook
    • Daily, 8 a.m. to midnight
  • Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Pawling Substation, 9 Memorial Avenue, Pawling
    • Residents can call (845) 486-3000 to make arrangements for drop-off

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day is an effort to address vital public safety and health issues and an opportunity to highlight current programs targeting the growing epidemic of drug overdoses. Over the past seven years, more than 9 million pounds of expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications have been collected nationwide at National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day events.

National Prescription Take-Back Day offers collection sites for this event throughout the United States; a list of collection sites can be found at www.dea.gov.

Author: Harlem Valley News