Westchester Expands Med Drop Boxes Throughout County
County Executive Rob Astorino and state Sen. Terrence Murphy (R-Yorktown) unveiled 12 new drop boxes throughout Westchester on Wednesday that will allow the public to properly dispose of unused prescription drugs.
The $8,000 state grant obtained by Murphy will pay for the boxes in the municipalities that previously did not have them. The white boxes look similar to a mailbox and are placed in public buildings.
The North Salem Police Department, where Astorino and Murphy made Wednesday’s announcement, and the county office building at 148 Martine Ave. in White Plains are among the newest locations.
Murphy, co-chair of the state Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Abuse, stressed the importance of getting rid of unused drugs. The task force has held several “Shed the Meds” medication take-back programs, which have resulted in the disposal of 1,000 pounds of medicine in his Senate District alone, Murphy said.
“The number one issue that people came to us was we didn’t know where to bring our medication,” Murphy said. “We’re here today to announce that every municipality in Westchester County now has a medication take-back box.”
The boxes are secure and cannot be broken into, he said.
Murphy teamed with Astorino and county Health Commissioner Dr. Sherlita Amler to bring the boxes to the communities which didn’t have them.
Astorino said he testified before the task force last year in Yorktown about the epidemic of heroin abuse in the state. The Shed the Meds program was “absolutely needed,” Astorino said.
“It’s going to help save lives,” he said.
The abuse of prescription drugs has become a major problem, Astorino said. “It really a lethal threat that we need to guard against,” he said. “Addicts will look anywhere for drugs. And one place that you may not assume that they will look is in your own medicine cabinet, but that’s where they’re going to go when they visit grandma, when they come to your house.”
Westchester helped pioneer the program in 2008, the county executive said.
“You need to get rid of it the right way. That’s also going to keep it out of the hands of those who are addicted to these painkillers and will do anything to get their hands on it,” Astorino added.
Proper disposal of unused medication is also critical because they if flushed down the toilet, for example, they can get into the drinking water supply, particularly in the northern part of the county where much of the land is in the New York City watershed.
“You cannot flush these medications down the drain,” Murphy said. “It’s becoming an environmental problem.”
Local police will take the drugs deposited in the drop boxes to a county facility where they will be incinerated, Astorino said.
Existing local drop box locations include Mount Pleasant Town Hall, 1 Town Hall Plaza in Valhalla, New Castle Town Hall, 200 S. Greeley Ave. in Chappaqua; North Castle Town Hall, 15 Bedford Rd. in Armonk; and Pleasantville Village Hall, 80 Wheeler Ave. in Pleasantville.
