Got Pills? Stamford PD to Host Drug Disposal Day

Stamford Police want your drugs.

Make that unused, unwanted or outdated drugs that are taking up room the medicine chest or closet. And they won’t ask questions.

On Saturday, as part of National Rx Drug Take Back Day, anyone can drop by at 805 Bedford Street from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and drop off their drugs. The is also participating on the same day and time.

“This is the second year we’re doing it,” Greenwich Police spokesman Lt. Kraig Gray said. “It was very successful. People brought in thing swe were not expecting. … Malaria drugs that apparently were more than 50 years old.”

The objective of the Drug Take Back Day, Gray says, “is to get people to dispose of unwanted drugs properly.  Like with the malaria drugs, what do you do with them? Flush them down the toilet? No.”

Gray said proper disposal translates into reduced opportunities for teens to pilfer pills from unsuspecting parents or grandparents.

“The abuse of prescription narcotics is rising, especially among teenagers,” Gray said. “Nobody watches the pills … You get 10 Oxycontin pills for surgery and you use 6. You still have four left. Maybe the teen’s friends use the bathroom and they pillage the medicine cabinet and take 1 Oxycontin or a Xanax. You don’t know it’s missing.”

Gray also said, “ We want to reduce the opportunities to abuse those prescription narcotics.”

For more information about the drop-off at the Stamford Police Department, contact Richard Conklin at 203-977-4921.