Ignizio Launches Drug Take-Back Program
Take-back program targets pill peril
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Responding to an Advance probe chronicling the prescription-drug epidemic plaguing Staten Island, the borough’s city councilmen and independent pharmacy owners announced yesterday a voluntary drug take-back program aimed at ridding homes here of unnecessary narcotics.
Borough residents can bring unused, unneeded or expired drugs to one of 10 participating pharmacies, where they will be properly disposed of for free.
Too often, powerful narcotics, such as painkillers, are flushed down the toilet when no longer needed, and can eventually mix into lakes, rivers and streams, officials said. Even worse, the drugs are increasingly snatched by teens without their parents’ or relatives’ knowledge and used recreationally or sold on the street.
“The Advance’s award-winning journalism has brought this issue to the forefront,” said Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore), a program sponsor along with his colleagues, James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) and Kenneth Mitchell (D-North Shore). “When these prescription drugs stay in the medicine chest, it makes it ripe for kids to get addicted to them. The message is clear: Get these ‘weapons’ out of your house.”
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