Thanks to a grant the Town of Seneca Falls Police Department has a drug collection unit, which will be located in the lobby of the police department. It’s part of the CVS Health’s Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program.
The drop-box provides residents with a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medication, including controlled substances.
The grant itself was collaborative effort between multiple agencies and individuals. Chief Peenstra credited the Seneca County Substance Abuse Coalition, Connie Richardson, and the NYS National Guard Counter Drug Task Force, U.S. Army National Guard SSG Justin Chernogorec as being key players in the process.
Proper drug disposal also helps to prevent the contamination of local landfills and water supplies from unused medication. “Safely disposing of unused medication is critical to preventing prescription drug abuse and keeping pharmaceuticals out of our waterways,” said Chief Stuart W. Peenstra. “The Seneca Falls Police Department is proud to partner with all of our collaborated partners and we thank them for their commitment to helping residents reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in our community.”
Reducing the amount of unused and unwanted medication in the home is critical to preventing prescription drug abuse. We are proud to work with the Partnership for Drug‐Free Kids and local leaders to increase convenient access to safe medication disposal.
The new drug disposal unit will help to reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in residents’ homes and decrease the potential for prescription drug abuse, which has soared in recent years. More than 70 percent of teenagers say it is easy to get prescription drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets, according to a Partnership for Drug‐Free Kids study.
Teenagers are among the hardest hit age groups when it comes to substance abuse.
The Medication Disposal for Safer Communities program has donated more than 600 drug collection units to police departments across the country, which have collected more than 47 metric tons or 100,000 pounds, of unwanted medication.
CVS Health also assists law enforcement by supporting local drug take back events and promoting local drug disposal collection sites. CVS Pharmacy locations have taken part in more than 800 events sponsored by local law enforcement as part of National Drug Take‐Back Day.
The Town of Seneca Falls Police Department’s new prescription Drug Collection Unit site is primarily open to the public from the hours of 8:00 am to 4:30 pm during the week.
For those who have difficulty making a drop off during that period — a call box is located on the wall outside of the police departments main entrance. Once notified, an Officer will meet you there and allow you access to the prescription medication drop box with no questions asked.
Medication must be placed in the drop box by a citizen. Officers will not be permitted to take possession of medication from a person at another location for disposal into this drop box. When dropping off the medications, individuals are asked to keep the items in the original container or a sealed plastic bag.
We also ask that any labels on medication containers be removed before deposit. The prescription medication drop box accepts prescriptions, ointments, vitamins, sample medications, pet medications, patches and retail medications. The following items are not accepted: syringes, poisons, any liquids, inhalers, aerosol cans and bio‐hazardous materials.
Additional information is also available through the Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program at the toll‐free phone number 1‐866‐559‐8830 or visit http://www.cvs.com/content/prescription‐drug‐abuse.