What’s Happening

The Riverhead Community Coalition for Safe and Drug-Free Youth collected 243 pounds of prescription and over-the-counter medications at two recent Spring Take Back Events. At the Peconic Bay Medical Center (PBMC) event on April 30th 163 pounds were collected, which is the most that has been collected at a Riverhead take back event since they started at PBMC four years ago. The second event took place in conjunction with Riverhead Town’s STOP Day ( Stop Throwing Out Pollutants) on May 14th at the Highway Department and netted an additional 80 pounds of drugs. This brings the total number of drugs collected to over 1,600 pounds since the permanent 24/7 drop box was installed at the Riverhead Police Department in August 2014.

“These events could not have been so successful without the collaborative efforts of the Riverhead Police Department, DEA, PBMC Health, and the NY Air National Guard Counterdrug Task Force,” said Kelly Miloski, MPH, Riverhead CAP’s community prevention specialist who coordinates the events. “We will continue working with our community partners to ensure that medication does not end up in the hands of someone who may abuse it. We are grateful to our community members who came out today to dispose of their medication in a safe way.”

“It is important to give people an opportunity to safely dispose of medications that may otherwise be discarded in a way that can be harmful to the environment or, in the case of controlled substances, fall into the wrong hands and contribute to the epidemic of people addicted to opiates,” said Jack Kann, director of pharmacy services at PBMC Health.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing drug problem in the United States, especially among teens. The CDC reports that one in five teens say they have taken prescription drugs without a doctor’s prescription and each day more than 2,000 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that nearly half of young people who inject heroin reported abusing prescription painkillers before starting to use heroin. Many individuals report taking up heroin because it is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription drugs. In addition, more people die from prescription drug overdoses than from all illegal drugs combined. In fact, prescription drug deaths are now the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., outnumbering highway traffic fatalities.

“Being part of these events is important to us in order to keep the community safe and prescription drugs out of the wrong hands,” said Staff Sergeant Carissa Cantone of the NY Air National Guard Counterdrug Task Force who, along with her colleagues, is an active member of the Riverhead Community Coalition.

The mission of the Riverhead Community Coalition for Safe and Drug-Free Youth is to engage collaborative partners in the planning, implementation and evaluation of strategies that prevent youth substance use. In 2013, the coalition was awarded a 5-year Drug-Free Communities (DFC) Support Grant through the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). For more information about the coalition, or to participate, please call Riverhead CAP at (631) 727-3722 or visit our Coalition page.