Drug Take-Back Saturday
“Medicines in the home are a leading cause of accidental poisoning,” the East Hampton Town Police Department cautions in a flier promoting a drug take-back day on Saturday at Town Hall. Add to that the facts that “many teens abusing prescription medicines get them from the home medicine cabinet” and that old medicines tossed in the trash or flushed down the toilet can contaminate aquifers, bays, and ponds, and you have three good reasons to find a place to safely dispose of old medications.
A number of pharmacies now have locked boxes where customers can get rid of old prescription and over-the-counter drugs used for people or pets, and there are similar boxes at the East Hampton Town police headquarters in Wainscott and the Sag Harbor Village police headquarters on Division Street.
On Saturday, one of those red metal boxes will be at Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., offering people a chance to purge the medicine cabinet of everything from that Tylenol with the 2003 expiration date to expired antibiotics and unused pain medications.
In other matters, East Hampton Town police are also promoting a new phone number at which they will take anonymous tips of suspected narcotic activity, under-age drinking, bias-related incidents, or other illegal activities.
Private messages can be left in English or Spanish at 631-537-7226. They will be screened and forwarded to the appropriate department members.