GREAT NECK, NY – On October 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., North Shore-LIJ Health System
and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. You can bring your medications for disposal to one of 16 North Shore-LIJ Health System locations throughout Long Island and New York City. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last April, Americans turned in 376,593 pounds—188 tons—of prescription drugs at nearly 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 3,000 state and local partners. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly
susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in
the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

“Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing problem in our society and can have deadly consequences,” said Michael Dowling, president and chief executive officer of the North Shore-LIJ Health System. “Here in New York, we are all too tragically familiar with the deadly effects prescription drug addictioncan have. Earlier this year, four people were senselessly murdered, when a husband and wife addicted to painkillers robbed a pharmacy on Long Island. Drug abuse can be deadly. By offering our hospitals as locations for the safe removal and disposal of unused medicines, we are addressing a vital public safety and health issue and eliminating what many believe is the first step in the cycle of abuse.”

Individuals can bring their unused prescription drugs for safe disposal to the following North Shore-LIJ Health System hospital collection sites.

Suffolk Hospitals: Huntington Hospital and Southside Hospital (Bay Shore)
Nassau Locations: Bethpage Immediate Care Facility, Plainview, Syosset and Glen Cove Hospitals, Franklin Hospital in Valley Stream, North Shore University in Manhasset, and LIJ Medical Center (including – LIJ Hospital, The Zucker Hillside, Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York) in New Hyde Park.
New York City Locations: Forest Hills Hospital, Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, Rego Park Urgent Care Facility and Staten Island University (North and South campuses).

Four days after the first Take-Back event in September 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. The DEA has begun drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months. Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like [agency] and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.

For more information on North Shore- LIJ collection locations call (516) 465-2535. Additional collection sites can also be found by going to: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html.