The MedReturn Box at the Saugerties Police station continues to take in more unwanted or expired prescription drugs.
The box took in over 800 lbs of pharmaceutical drugs in ten months, between March and December 31, 2019. This represents an 83 percent increase over last year’s pharmaceutical returns during the same tenth-month period.
Since the inception of the MedReturn Box at Saugerties Police Headquarters in 2013, over 3,000 lbs in unwanted and expired pharmaceuticals have been deposited.
“This is a tremendous effort by our community toward ensuring that these unused and expired medications don’t end up on the streets and in the wrong hands,” stated a release from the department. “Proper disposal of these medications also ensures our environment and wildlife are also being protected.”
According to RxDrugDropBox.org, “America’s 12- to 17-year-olds have made prescription drugs the number one substance of abuse for their age group, and much of that supply is unwittingly coming from the medicine cabinets of their parents, grandparents, and friends.”