Prescription Drug Disposal Project Slated For April 30

Residents will have an opportunity to properly dispose of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs on Saturday, April 30, when Newtown Police Department and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conduct a drug collection project.

The collection program is scheduled for 10 am to 2 pm at the police station at 3 Main Street. The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked of those people disposing of prescription drugs, police said.

Police and the DEA conducted a similar project last September at the annual town health fair held at Newtown Middle School.

The nationwide drug collection project last September resulted in the DEA and local law enforcement agencies collecting 242,000 pounds of drugs for safe disposal.

In the past, citizens had been advised to dispose of prescription drugs either by flushing them down toilets or by throwing them into the trash. Such disposal methods, however, have been shown to pose potential safety and health hazards, according to police.

Police said that that proper drug disposal can help to prevent prescription drug abuse by people unauthorized to use the prescribed drugs. Medicines that languish in home medicine chests are susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse, according to police.