They Want Your Drugs This Weekend

Are you still holding onto those expired leftover painkillers from knee surgery? Or how about those sedatives that never worked as well as a nice cup of chamomile tea before bedtime?

To prevent your medicine cabinet from becoming a street corner for drug abusers to seek their next fix, experts are recommending that old medicines be safely disposed on a regular basis — beginning this weekend.

As part of the Drug Enforcement Agency's nationwide effort to take controlled substances off the streets and out of the hands of potential drug abusers and youths, the and Substance Abuse and Prevention Task Force are teaming up for a Drug Drop-Off Program.

Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, anyone may drop off their unused medications or over-the-counter drugs at the Middletown Police Station at 123 Valley Road to be safely disposed.

No questions asked — they just want medications that you can no longer use or that have expired, including veterinary medications.

This is the second time since September the DEA has organized such a program.

Lori Verderosa, coordinator of the town's Substance Abuse and Prevention Task Force, said the Middletown Police Department collected an estimated $25,000 to $30,000 worth of drugs in "street value" at the last collection six months ago.

Law enforcement officials and substance abuse experts have begun to put such an emphasis on prescription drug take-back programs because the incidents and rates of abuse among youths have been increasing while other forms of illegal drug abuse have decreased, Verderosa said.

One in seven youths admitted to abusing a prescription drug last year, she noted.

"It's considered easier to get (prescription drugs) than illicit drugs, such as marijuana and cocaine, and these can go undetected. It doesn't smell or leave an odor on your clothes. It's a pill they can just carry in their pocket. It's more covert," Verderosa explained. "They are finding them in the medicine cabinets at their family's homes and they're taking them from grandparents and the elderly."

Joined by Middletown CVS pharmacist Shannon Spencer, Verderosa appeared before a group of about 40 senior citizens at the Middletown Senior Center on Thursday to help raise awareness of the growing problem among teens.

The two also encouraged seniors to keep their prescription supplies locked safely and to regularly clear out their unused or leftover medications.

Spender said she frequently hears about incidents where patients' medications such as pain killers or sedatives were stolen from their homes by workers in their homes, as well as by people or youths they know.

"If you keep them locked up in something like this, it's not going to be so easy to walk out without drawing some attention to yourself," Spencer said, holding up a large brightly colored orange plastic locking container designed for prescription medications.

If seniors or anyone else cannot drop off their unused drugs at a take-back program such as the one this weekend, Spencer encouraged them to be safely disposed in the garbage by crushing tablets and then mixing them in with something such as wet coffee grounds to mask them before tossing them in the garbage. She also encouraged everyone to remove their identification from labels before throwing prescription bottles away.

Verderosa also discouraged seniors from flushing the medications down the toilet or garbage disposal, citing research that's shown that medications have ended up in municipal water supplies because the filtration systems are unable to filter out many substances.

They also encouraged people to turn in unused veterinary medications to the drug drop-off program, as many sedatives are often given to pets and animals.

For more information about Saturday's Drug Drop-Off Program, see more excerpts from Thursday's presentation in the video clip at right.

The Drug Drop-Off Program happens Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Middletown Police Station, 123 Valley Road.