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Police on the Long Island region participated Saturday in a national program dedicated to the protection of seniors, youth and local waters by taking over old and unused prescription drugs.
In Suffolk County, West Babylon and Huntington communities in Hauppauge, Southampton, Patchogue and Shirley have participated in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, during which people can safely dispose of their medications on order via collection sites, organized by local law enforcement.
"We want to prevent these drugs from falling into the wrong hands," said Lieutenant Michael Zarro of Southampton Police on Saturday at the Hampton Bays Community Center.
While the rainy weather initially created a slow start to collection – Zarro said that he had only seen one person drop off prescription drugs before noon on the Hampton Bays – L & R website. Southampton Police Property and Evidence Agent, Theresa Tedesco, who coordinated the resumption of orders program in Southampton at the end of the day, they had collected 96 pounds of prescription drugs at their three sites. It was 40 pounds more than they had collected at the October 2017 takeover event.
Between the October recovery event and another held annually in April, the Southampton Police – attending the event for the third year – collected between 250 and 300 drug books a year, a number that has been steadily increasing since the creation of the department. participated in the event in 2016, said Tedesco.
More than 90 residents have filed prescription drugs at points of arrival in Nassau County, Nassau officials said Saturday.
"As important as it is today, the Nassau County Police Department urges its residents to provide all the unwanted drugs to the police on any day of their choice, as this program is available daily, 24 hours a day," said Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. "The more we take drugs out of our homes, the more lives we will save."
The collection also allows police to raise awareness of Operation Medicine Cabinet, a program that allows residents to anonymously drop unwanted medication at any time into containers inside each of the seven Suffolk Police Constituencies. . Nearly 50,000 pounds of unused and outdated drugs have been delivered to the Suffolk County Police Department since the establishment of the Operation Medicine Cabinet, according to Suffolk County officials.
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