Village of Owego Police Department receives grant for Drug Collection Unit

The Owego Police announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a grant from CVS/pharmacy to install a Drug Collection Unit. The new Unit will be located at Owego Police Headquarters at 90 Temple St. and will provide residents with a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medication, including controlled substances.

The new Unit is intended to reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in residents’ homes and decrease prescription drug abuse, which has soared in recent years, especially among teenagers. More than 70 percent of teenagers say it is easy to get prescription drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets, according to a 2014 Partnership for Drug-Free Kids study.

The new Unit will also help the Village of Owego prevent the contamination of local landfills and water supplies from unused medication.

“Safely disposing of unused medication is critical to protecting our children and our environment,” said Chief Karen L. Vinti.

She added, “The Owego Police is proud to partner with CVS/pharmacy and we thank them for their commitment to help residents reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in our community.”

The new Drug Collection Unit represents one of 1,000 Units CVS/pharmacy and The Medicine Abuse Project (MAP), a five-year initiative of The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, are providing across the country. This innovative donation program is the largest retail pharmacy effort of its kind to date and supports MAP’s goal to prevent a half million teenagers from abusing prescription medication by the year 2017. CVS/pharmacy is the sole retail pharmacy sponsor of this program, which builds on the company’s Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program.

“CVS/pharmacy is dedicated to collaborating with organizations like The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids and local law enforcement to prevent the abuse of unwanted and expired medication,” said Josh Flum, senior vice president of Retail Pharmacy at CVS Health.

He continued, “The installment of drug collection receptacles is part of our ongoing commitment to battle prescription drug abuse in the U.S. and to help people in the communities we serve on their path to better health.”

CVS/pharmacy also assists law enforcement by supporting local drug take back events and promoting local drug disposal collection sites. CVS/pharmacy has conducted drug collection campaigns utilizing their retail locations, including several National Drug Take Back Day events. Law enforcement agencies that operate their own on-going collection site programs can also arrange to have the address and hours of their operations posted in local CVS/pharmacy stores.

Village of Owego’s new Drug Collection Unit site is open to the public from the hours of Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked. Owego residents and CVS/pharmacy customers can also inquire about the Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program at the toll free phone number 1-866-559-8830 or visit www.cvs.com/safercommunities.