Orange County Collects Over 700 Pounds of Unwanted Prescription Medications

Over 700 pounds of unwanted prescription medications have been collected at local Orange County Police Stations. 

Orange County Police Chief’s Association, The NY National Guard Counter Drug Task Force,  and CVS Pharmacy, all participated in the Association’s first semi-annual Fall Drug Prevention Initiative.

Over 700 pounds of prescription medications were collected by municipal police agencies throughout Orange County and disposed of by the Association.

During the Summer of 2016 Police Chiefs Association of Orange County along with the National Guard Drug Task Force partnered with CVS Pharmacy to install prescription medication disposal units at various police station throughout Orange County under CVS Pharmacy’s Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program.

This initiative a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. The prescription drug disposal box is intended to reduce the amount of unneeded medications in a person's home and decrease drug abuse.

Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs, according to a press release. 

Drug Collection Unit sites at local law enforcement agencies are open to the public seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day, and drugs can be dropped off no questions asked.