SHARE

Bring Your Old Prescription Drugs To Mount Kisco Police

MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. – Mount Kisco is holding a “Prescription Take Back Day” on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Mount Kisco police station.

Mount Kisco residents are encouraged to bring expired prescriptions to the Mount Kisco police station for "Prescription Take Back Day."

Mount Kisco residents are encouraged to bring expired prescriptions to the Mount Kisco police station for "Prescription Take Back Day."

Photo Credit: File

Local residents have a chance to help prevent overdoses in the community by making prescription opioids and other misused medications like ADHD drugs less available for diversion and abuse. The Mount Kisco Police Department and Mount Kisco Partners in Prevention, a project of the Mount Kisco Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Council, join forces once again in staging Prescription Take Back Day.

Residents are encouraged to clean out their medicine chests, obscure or remove personally identifying information from the packaging and bring unwanted prescription pills, patches and ointments to the Mount Kisco police station at 40 Green St. Also accepted are unused or expired over the counter medicines and pet medications.

While new federal guidelines and procedures for safe drug disposal are being worked out in Washington, Mount Kisco agencies are continuing the tradition of preventing pill abuse and theft by assisting families in ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

According to statistics tracked by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fatal overdoses from opiate medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone quadrupled between 1999 and 2010, and the amount of prescription painkillers prescribed and sold in the U.S. is now nearly four times its 1999 level, yet there has not been an overall change in the amount of pain that Americans report.

Mount Kisco Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention Council, under the direction of Chairman Mel Berger, has spearheaded local participation in Take Back Day since its inauguration by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration six years ago.

“Preventing abuse of prescription drugs means making them unavailable, and medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse,” said Berger.

Berger is also the director of Mount Kisco Partners in Prevention, one of Westchester’ several Drug Free Community coalitions working to reduce drug use and prevent underage drinking in their respective communities. 

to follow Daily Voice Mt. Kisco and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE