New Hope Police extend Prescription Drug Take-Back program

New Hope, PA Borough Hall (photo: Charlie Sahner)

By Charlie Sahner

The New Hope Police Department will offer another chance for the public to dispose of unused and/or expired prescription drugs this Saturday from 10-2 in the lobby of Borough Hall, located in the former St. Martin of Tours Church at the corner of New and West Mechanic streets.

Experts say that prescription medicines have become an expanding area of drug abuse, with pain killers like Oxycontin leading the way. And, obviously, many commonly prescribed drugs can be hazardous to children who may find them, often having been forgotten and left in the back of a bathroom medicine cabinet.

So, why not simply flush those unused meds right down the toilet?

Bad move; those same experts say chemicals like hormones and antibiotics are winding up in increasing amounts in our water. By contrast, the Prescription Drug Take-Back program utilizes environmentally-responsible methods of drug disposal.

Police stress that participation in the program is completely anonymous. Citizens concerned with privacy can remove identifying labels from bottles, or simply dump the contents into the disposal container provided and take the bottle back.

Said New Hope Police Chief Mike Cummings, "For many kids today, their first drug experience comes from prescriptions left by parents in the home medicine cabinet.  This Prescription Drug Take-Back event is a great way to protect kids and the environment."