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Ossining Prescription Take Back Starts Saturday

OSSINING, N.Y. – Several Ossining organizations are teaming up this weekend to make it easier on parents to keep prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands.

The Village of Ossining Police Department and the Ossining Communities That Care coalition are joining the Drug Enforcement Administration for National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Birdsall Fagan Police/Court Facility.  In April, Americans turned in more than 275 tons of prescription drugs at over 5,600 sites nationwide, according to a press release.  In Ossining, the groups collected hundreds of oxycodone pills worth an estimated street value of more than $2,500 and a total of $66,000 worth of prescription drugs, police said. 

Lt. Jim Montegue, of the Village of Ossining Police Department, said the effort is one of the most important things residents can do to keep drugs off the streets.

“We want to safeguard our kids from drugs that folks tend to forget about,” Montegue said. “People get prescriptions all the time and often they don’t finish them and they end up in the back of the cabinet and it becomes a danger to anyone who might go into that cabinet. What we’re trying to do is collect these things and dispose of them properly.”

The success of the April event inspired the groups to add Westchester County’s first prescription drug take-back bin in the Ossining police facility. Residents not able to attend Saturday’s event are invited to drop off prescription drugs in the bin during building hours, Montegue said. Both initiatives are also anonymous.

"I am proud of the fact that Ossining has the first prescription take back bin in the county," said Alice Joselow, co-chair of Ossining Communities That Care. "Our partnership with the Village Police is so critical as we work to educate teens, parents and the community at large about the risks of prescription drugs and other risky behaviors."

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