Operation Medicine Cabinet offers safe disposal of drugs

Start cleaning out the medicine cabinet of all unwanted, unused or expired medicine and prepare to take them to local police departments for safe and environmentally sensitive disposal during a statewide day of collection designated as Operation Medicine Cabinet on Nov. 14.

More than 400 police departments are participating in Operation Medicine Cabinet, which is a collaborative venture of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ), the New Jersey Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Angelo Valente, executive director of PDFNJ, said New Jersey is the first state in the nation to present a joint initiative such as Operation Medicine Cabinet. The program, he said, aims to bring awareness and education of the dangers of the easy access of medicine found in homes and to decrease the illegal abuse of medicine through proper disposal.

"Most New Jersey residents, including parents, are not aware of the potential hazards of abuse and misuse of prescription and non-prescription medicine that exist in their home medicine cabinets," said Valente. "Young people are fast becoming abusers of prescription drugs."

He quoted a 2009 PDFNJ survey that determined that 47 percent of New Jersey parents of middle school students knew little or just about nothing about prescription drug abuse.

Valente reported that a 2007 PDFNJ survey found that prescription drugs are abused more than twice as much as Ecstasy and cocaine by New Jersey middle school students.

Also, Valente said a 2007 study by the National Study of Drug Use and Health resulted in the statistic that 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they acquired them from friends or relatives.

The proper disposal of unwanted drugs is a component of Operation Medicine Cabinet and offers an alternative to the currently unapproved "flush" method.

"Flushing unwanted medicine down the toilet or sink drain can contaminate a community's water supply," Valente said. "After all the medicine is collected and weighed during Operation Medicine Cabinet, it will be incinerated according to environmental standards."

He praised the support of the DEA and New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram for supporting and making this initiative possible.

"Operation Medicine Cabinet aims to remove controlled prescription medications, especially pain relievers, from abuse and diversion to illegal uses," said Special Agent Douglas S. Collier, public information officer for the New Jersey Division of the DEA. "Controlled substances can only be turned in to law enforcement agencies, such as police departments, due to regulations of the chain of custody."

In a press release, Milgram said, "This operation will reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a path to addiction. We can't break a cycle of dependence if powerful prescription drugs are stashed in our own homes, tucked away in drawers and cabinets."

While it is hoped that Operation Medicine Cabinet will be a repeat event in communities and perhaps even a national effort, an alternative environmentally approved Federal Drug Administration method for the gradual destruction of unwanted drugs exits and is called SMARxT Disposal.

"The aim is to keep drugs out of the water supply and away from children and pets if merely tossed straight into the trash," said Sharon Corbitt, director of external communications for the American Pharmacists Association. "It involves placing the tablets or capsules in a plastic bag and crushing them, then adding water or liquid medication plus a substance such as kitty litter or coffee grinds and then throwing the sealed packet in the trash."

Valente said people participating in Operation Medicine Cabinet are requested to bring prescription and non-prescription medications, including pet medications, for disposal to a local participating police department between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Nov. 14.

Local police departments participating in Operation Medicine Cabinet include: Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Colts Neck, Manalapan, Marlboro, Howell, Jackson, Plumsted, Holmdel, Millstone Township, Long Branch, Allentown and Eatontown.

Click on www.operationmedicinecabinetnj. com. for a complete list of participating police departments and additional information.