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*News
Release* Date: November 9, 2009
Middlesex
County Prosecutor’s Office
Countywide effort to dispose of prescription medicines
set for Nov. 14
Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan announced today
that police departments throughout
Dubbed
‘’Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey,’’ police in all 25 of the county’s
municipalities, and Rutgers University, will be collecting medicines at various
locations within the 25 communities and on campus on November 14, 2009, between
10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
In
addition, the Monroe Township Police Department will be hosting additional
collection days, beginning today, to accommodate its large senior citizen
population. (Note to editors: Times,
dates and locations are listed below.)
County,
state and federal officials urged residents to note the collection locations in
their communities and clean out their medicine cabinets.
‘’Prescription
drugs that are abused are as addictive and as deadly as illegal street drugs,’’
Prosecutor Kaplan said. ‘’
‘’We appreciate that the DEA and Attorney
General’s Office recognize the dangers associated with prescription medicines
and are providing our residents with a safe way to dispose of those
medicines,’’ Prosecutor Kaplan said.
Freeholder
Mildred S. Scott, chair of the county’s Law and Public Safety Committee, said,
‘’As a county government, we need to partner with our federal, state and local
governing bodies, but we must also work as a team with our residents on this
issue. It’s key to ask for their help in ensuring the proper disposal of
prescription drugs so they are not misused, which could lead to tragedy.”
Gerard P. McAleer,
the Special Agent-in-Charge of the DEA in New Jersey stated, ‘’We are
very excited about the widespread support and enthusiasm Operation Medicine
Cabinet New Jersey is gaining in our coordinated efforts to bring public
attention to this issue that is impacting our youth, our families, and our
communities.’’
‘’Law
enforcement is concerned with the alarming trend in the misuse and abuse of
prescription drugs, with potential access to these drugs coming from the
medicine cabinets of family and friends,’’ he said.
‘’This
operation will reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a
path to addiction,’’ New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram said. ‘’We can't
break a cycle of dependence if powerful prescription drugs are stashed in our
own homes, tucked away in drawers and cabinets.’’
‘’With
Operation Medicine Cabinet, we are calling on New Jersey residents to see their
medicine cabinets through new eyes - as an access point for potential misuse
and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription medicine by young people,’’ Angelo M. Valente, executive director of the
Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, said.
A 2007
report by the National Study of Drug Use and Health noted that 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers
say they got them from friends or relatives,
according to McAleer and Valente.
The National Institute of Drug
Abuse reports that upwards of nine million people use prescription medication
for non-medical uses. The institute noted that a survey of school principals in
2007 by the Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey found that half of the
administrators said that prescription drugs are abused more than twice that of
ecstasy and cocaine by
‘’What
is equally disturbing is that 47 percent of New Jersey parents of middle school
students said they know a little or just about nothing about prescription drug
abuse,’’ Valente said, citing a Parents Tracking Survey by the Partnership for
a Drug-Free New Jersey.
The following communities will be accepting discarded
prescription medicines at their police headquarters on November 14, 2009, from
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:
Cranbury,
Dunellen,
Edison,
Helmetta,
Jamesburg,
Metuchen,
Middlesex
Borough,
Milltown,
Spotswood,
Residents
living in the following communities may drop off discarded medicines on
November 14, 2009 from 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the following locations:
Plainsboro,
main lobby of the municipal complex at
South
Amboy, Senior Center,
To
accommodate its large senior citizen population,
November 9, 2009:
Rossmoor,
Rossmoor Clubhouse,
Encore,
Encore Clubhouse,
November 10, 2009:
Concordia,
Concordia Clubhouse,
Regency,
Regency Clubhouse,
November 11, 2009:
Clearbrook,
Clearbrook Clubhouse,
Ponds,
Ponds Clubhouse,
November 12, 2009:
Renaissance
at Cranbury Crossing, Clubhouse, 9 to 11 a.m.
Whittingham,
November 13, 2009:
Stonebridge
at Greenbriar, Stonebridge Clubhouse, 9 to 11 a.m.
Renaissance
at