by Bea Peterson
On Saturday, April 30, more than 40 people came to the Hoosick Falls municipal building meeting room to drop off unwanted prescription medications and over the counter tablets and capsules they had in their medicine cabinets. Thanks to a joint effort by the Hoosick Area Youth Center & Community Coalition (HAYC3), the Hoosick Falls Police Dept. and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Hoosick residents were able to discard these pills in a safe, environmentally friendly and free manner. They were participating in a program that was taking place across the United States.
The disposal day is an effort by DEA to remove unused drugs from communities before they fall into the hands of potential abusers. According to the DEA youth who abuse prescription drugs say they usually get them from a family member or friend without that person’s knowledge.
“This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. More than seven million
Americans currently abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2009 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Each day approximately 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time,” the Partnership for a Drug Free America stated. “Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet.”
DEA, in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the United States, conducted the first ever National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, September 25, 2010. DEA said, “The purpose of this National Take Back Day was to provide a venue for persons who wanted to dispose of unwanted and unused prescription drugs. This effort was a huge success in removing potentially dangerous prescription drugs, particularly controlled substances, from our nation’s medicine cabinets. There were approximately 3,000 state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation that participated in the event. All told, the American Public turned in more than 121 tons of pills on this first National Take Back Day.” Joyce Davis, a coordinator of the local program, said that during that first collection Hoosick Falls turned in more pills than the city of Troy.
The first event was so successful that the DEA scheduled a second National Prescription Drug Take Back Day for this past Saturday. It was a great opportunity for those who missed the first event or who have subsequently accumulated unwanted, unused prescription drugs, to safely dispose of them. Hoosick Falls may hold two such events a year in the future.
Affect On The Environment
DEA states that the question is often asked why not throw the pills in the trash or flush them down the toilet? Because when drugs go into landfills and wastewater they wind up in the drinking water. More than 41 million Americans drink water that’s contaminated with trace amounts of antibiotics, birth control hormones, anticonvulsants and more, according to an Associated Press investigation done in 2008. The reproduction of fish in the Hudson River has been found to be affected by these birth control hormones. The five containers of drugs filled in Hoosick Falls will be taken, along with those collected in other communities, to a burn center and destroyed.
A High For The Young
DEA stresses that drugs should not be kept indefinitely because they can fall into the wrong hands. Five out of the six drugs most frequently abused by twelfth-graders were prescription drugs and cough and cold medicines, according to a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. Sixty-two percent of teens who abuse prescription pain killers do so because they find them in their parents’ or grandparents’ medicine cabinets.
Officer Guido Gabriel said he believes the drug of choice for local teens is beer. Aelish Nealon of HAYC3 said that in poor communities such as this area, the pills are an alternative as the price of beer goes up.
Joyce Davis, once Executive Director of the Hoosick Area Partnership for Parents and Youth (HAPPY) and now a part of HAYC3 had a positive note. She said that in the past six years the Town of Hoosick has gone from the bottom of the list as the worst Town in Rensselaer County for alcohol and drug abuse to the most outstanding Town in preventing such abuse. Undoubtedly there is still a problem, but parents and teens are much more aware of the causes and affects of such abuse and are working harder to prevent it. Gabriel said the Hoosick Falls Police have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to minors found drinking. The are brought in and charged. For information on other prevention efforts in the Hoosick community, visit www.hoosickyouth.org.