Allegany County residents have less than two week left to dig out their unused prescription drugs for free disposal in Belmont and Cuba, helping to keep the substances off the street and out of the hands of drug abusers and children, and out of public water supplies.
The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office is hosting its biannual Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 11AM to 1PM, Saturday, October 28, at the Allegany County Employment and Training, 6 Wells Lane, Belmont, and the Cuba Fire Department, 51 East Main Street.
The Belmont location is across the street from the County Office Building where the Allegany County Deputy Sheriff’s Association will be following up from 1PM to 4PM with its annual Trunk or Treat candy giveaway for children, along with a raffle for two, 20-inch bicycles.
Officers will be on hand at the two Allegany County locations to receive no-questions-asked unused prescription drugs as part of the national Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) TakeBack initiative.
Individuals are encouraged to take part in this effort to keep unused prescription drugs out of the hands of unauthorized individuals who often take them from home drawers and medicine chests and children who can swallow and overdose if they happen to discover them unattended. Public water supplies also can be negatively impacted through flushing of unused medicines.
Over 80 pounds of substances were collected in April at sites in Friendship and Wellsville.
For those wishing to dispose of sharps, which aren’t accepted at the drop off locations, they can be deposited into drop boxes at county refuse disposal sites at Alfred, Belmont, Bolivar, Caneadea, Canaseraga, Cuba/Friendship, and Wellsville.
Used sharps should be placed in a sealable container, with the entire container dropped into the sharps boxes.
Allegany is one of only two counties in the state for disposal of sharps needles at such sites.
Individuals and organizations also can become advocates for this twice-a-year initiative by letting others know about the national searchable database for event locations at https://bit.ly/3lEZE1B.
Disposal at other sites, including Wyoming and Cattaraugus counties, will be from 10AM to 2PM. Those wishing to drop off prescription drugs at those locations should check with the collectors to ensure that they have updated their information on the DEA database search site.
The Allegany County Sheriff’s Office NY is assisted by local police agencies, along with Partners for Prevention in Allegany County (Ppac Central) and the Allegany Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, in the county initiative.