Levittown, Massapequa Community Groups Gear Up For 'Shed The Meds' Day

MASSAPEQUA, NY. — Saturday is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, and local organizations across the country are readying their disposal kits to help Americans safely get rid of unwanted prescription medication.

Among those local organizations are the Levittown Takes Action Coalition and the Massapequa Takes Action Coalition, co-chaired by Corinne Alba, associate director of the Nassau County-based YES Community Counseling Center.

This will be the eighth year that the Massapequa Takes Action Coalition has been part of drug takeback events, co-sponsored this year by County Legislator James Kennedy, bringing together representatives from state and local government, law enforcement, nonprofits, public libraries and school districts.

Anyone looking to dispose of medication is instructed to keep it in its original container, with patient names obstructed for anonymity. Liquid medications will not be accepted, although sharp materials including syringes are being collected. Illegal narcotics are also eligible for drop-off at eligible locations, including YES offices at 75 Grand Ave. A longer list of drop-off locations can be found here.

“Although you can drop off narcotics at the local precinct, people do wait until these events to drop it off and bring it in. [We] try to educate about dropping it off all year, but a lot of people save the bottles, and things like that, and end up dropping it off when these things happen,” Alba said.

Last year, Alba said MTAC collected roughly 250 pounds of narcotics at “Shed The Meds” events, while the Levittown coalition has collected about 500 lbs. in prior years.

“Think about all the narcotics that we get out of houses,” Alba said. “When the opioid crisis was at the height, and before they had the I-STOP laws, people would have medications in their house and we would see, at that time it was young adults, but even adults, would be stealing from their loved ones, because they were so addicted to the opiates.”

I-STOP, short for Internet System for Tracking Over-Prescribing, was passed in 2012, and created a statewide registry for healthcare practitioners to track their patients’ controlled substance prescription history. While the 'Shed the Meds' program allows everyone who shows up to safely dispose of their medication, Alba said the program is of particular importance as the community continues to confront the nationwide opioid addiction crisis.

“Addiction, when you’re in it, you’re going to look to get it any way you can, and that means stealing from people you know and people you don’t know. So, having it out of the house reduces the access, and that’s our goal, is to reduce the access to it. Environmentally, too, flushing things down the toilet is not good for the environment, so it kind of covers both ends, there.”

In addition to drug disposal, volunteers in Levittown and Massapequa will have resources including deterra kits, specialized bags that allow for people to dispose of their medication at home by dissolving it in a bag and throwing out the bag. There will also be narcan trainings offered at YES offices in Massapequa.