Austintown Drug Take Back Program

By PAM JADUE

neighbors@vindy.com

The Austintown Police Department and the Mahoning County Green Team are asking residents to do a bit of spring cleaning beginning with their medicine cabinets.

They will conduct a Prescription Drug Take Back Program at the Austintown Police Department April 5 from noon until 3 p.m. The collection will ensure the proper disposal of prescription and nonprescription medications with the help of DARE Officer Jeffrey Toth and the Green Team.

“I am the only officer permitted to collect these meds and they are sealed, placed in evidence and burned in a steel-making furnace when our other drug evidence and weapons are incinerated,” said Toth.

Last year’s collections were held throughout the summer and had approximately 109 people take part. Toth said they hoped on a better community response last year in numbers of people, but the poundage was good: 1,562 containers of both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications were collected.

In support of last year’s collection, Green Team Representative Jim Petuch said “It is important to keep drugs out of the water supply never flushing them or pouring them into a drain. Many medications by-pass the filtering systems and can pass to the general water supply.”

Residents looking for further information on the proper disposal of medications can go to the Food and Drug Administrations web site under the safe disposal of medicines at www.FDA.gov.