Drop off unwanted drugs, 24/7, no questions asked
TOWN OF WALLKILL – The Wallkill Ttown Police Department is the
latest in the region to provide a pharmaceutical drop-off box for unwanted
drugs. The bin is available 24/7.
Town of Wallkill Supervisor Daniel Depew said with the scourge of the heroin epidemic plaguing the Hudson Valley region, people in the have been asking their local elected officials for an avenue to dispose of unwanted drugs safely. He said this is a way for those who did not know a way, to have a way.
“They’re great people,” Depew said. “They’re good citizens; they’re responsible citizens, but the pharmaceutical companies, and the drug stores, and the pharmacies, even in our communities, have neglected to provide them with a safe avenue to get rid of these drugs and prevent them from being stolen, or even being abused.”
Police Chief Robert Hertman said due to a local string of pharmacy robberies, where narcotic pain medications were sought by the suspects, as well as the increasing number of opioid dependent individuals, it was important to provide a means to dispose of those pharmaceuticals.
“Properly disposing of excess drugs is everyone’s responsibility, and a matter of public safety,” said Hertman. “More than 70 percent of young people abusing prescription drugs obtained the pain medication through friends, or family; a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet,” he said.
However, despite the focus being on narcotic pain medication, the chief said that they will accept any illicit substances for disposal with no risk involved. They just want help getting them off the streets.
“We’ll accept any drugs here, whether they be narcotic medication, non-narcotic medication, no matter how they were obtained does not matter to us,” Hertman said. “The key message here is that we want the narcotics off the street and ensure that people are not exposed to them.”
Depew said the town board approved the purchase of the drop-box for what he estimated to be between a few hundred to $1,000. He said was not going to wait for another entity to fund something so crucial to the community when it needed to be done.
