Two Medication Take Back Events Set for October 22nd
The Riverhead Community Coalition for Safe and Drug-Free Youth is hosting two more opportunities for you to safely dispose of your medication on Saturday, October 22nd. The first will take place in the lobby of Peconic Bay Medical Center, 1300 Roanoke Ave., from 10 AM – 2 PM in partnership with PBMC Northwell Health, Riverhead Police Department, the National Guard and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). We are also partnering with the Town of Southampton Police Department, Youth Bureau and Councilwoman Julie Lofted to host a second event from 9:30 AM – 1:00 PM at the Flanders Community Center located at 655 Flanders Rd. Both events will feature a drive-up option will include giveaways for the participants. On October 15th, we successfully collected 91 pounds of medication in partnership with the Riverhead Highway Department during the STOP Day event.
“The safe disposal of unwanted and expired medication is one of the coalition’s critical focal points in its multi-faceted approach to preventing prescription drug addiction and overdose, in addition to heroin abuse,” CAP Community Prevention Specialist Kelly Miloski, MPH said. “We will continue to work with our local police departments and our other partners to raise awareness about our community’s medication drop box and the importance of safely disposing of your medication.”
To date, over 2,200 pounds of medication have been collected through the combination of the take back events and the permanent drop box. In August 2014, the permanent medication drop box was installed in the lobby of the Riverhead Police Department at 210 Howell Avenue so that residents could safely and conveniently dispose of unused, unwanted, and expired medication 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The collection of over 2,200 pounds of medication was achieved through collaborative partnerships and the community’s willingness to dispose of their medications properly. The coalition has promoted the medication drop box through take back events at various locations within our town, including Tanger Outlets, the Riverhead Highway Department, Peconic Bay Medical Center, and the Riverhead Senior Center. In addition, the coalition’s youth sector works on multiple strategies to raise awareness, including creating and recording Public Service Announcements on our local radio stations that educate listeners about the drop box and the dangers of prescription drug abuse. Other coalition partners have been eager to help out by putting information about the drop box in their newsletters, on their websites and community boards, and in local pharmacies.
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. Some individuals reported 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, drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., outnumbering highway traffic fatalities.
