Assemblymember Barrett urges participation in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
April 26, 2013
Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-Hudson) is encouraging area families to participate in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, April 27. The event, which has been held for the past six years, is a chance for local residents with expired or unused prescription drugs to bring them to a location so that professionals can dispose of them safely.
The following drop off locations will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
- Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, 85 Industrial Tract in Hudson;
- Galleria Mall (Second Floor in front of Best Buy), 2001 South Road in Poughkeepsie;
- Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, 19 Tucker Drive in Poughkeepsie;
- Poughkeepsie Public Safety Building, 505 Main Street in Poughkeepsie; and
- Mesier Park Homestead, 37 Mesier Park in Wappingers Falls
"Giving people a safe and convenient way to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs is a big service to our communities and our environment," said Barrett. "It keeps these unneeded medications off the streets and black market and out of our water systems and landfills."
Last year, in her first as Assemblymember, Barrett sponsored and helped pass the Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing (I-STOP) Act. The new law created the first real-time prescription-drug database in the country to crack down on prescription-drug abuse and strengthen regulations of certain controlled substances to curb improper use (Ch. 447 of 2012).
Abusing prescription drugs is a growing epidemic across the United States, particularly with teenagers. In fact, according to the 2012 Monitoring the Future Study, 14.8% of high school seniors surveyed admitted to using prescription drugs for non-medical purposes in the past year. 1
For more information on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, visit www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback or call Assemblymember Barrett’s office at 845-454-1703.
___________________________________
1 http://teens.drugabuse.gov/our-projects/peerx
