CVS provides drug collection unit

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SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR From left, are Struthers Police Chief R.T. Roddy, Struthers Law Director Dominic R. Leone III, and Law Director secretary Catherine Cercone Miller, who recently accepted a drug collection unit from CVS Pharmacy which has been placed in City Hall at the police department. Drugs can be dropped off 24 hours a day with no questions asked.

Staff report

STRUTHERS

Struthers Police Chief R.T. Roddy with Struthers Law Director, Dominic R. Leone III, and Law Director secretary, Catherine Cercone Miller, recently received a grant that has provided a drug collection unit from CVS Pharmacy to the city to combat drug abuse. The unit will be located at City Hall in the police department and will provide a safe and environmentally responsible way to dispose of unwanted, unused or expired medication, which includes controlled substances.

Struthers’ new collection unit is open to the public 24 hours a day and drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked. Struthers residents and CVS customers also can ask about the Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program by calling 1-866-559-8830 or visit www.cvs.com/safecommunities.

It is hoped the new unit will help reduce the amount of unneeded medicine in residents’ homes and decrease prescription drug abuse, which has soared among teenagers in recent years. According to a 2014 Partnership for Drug-Free Kids study, more than 70 percent of teenagers say it is easy to get prescription drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets. The unit also may help prevent the contamination of local landfills and water supplies from unused medication.

The Drug Collection Unit for Struthers represents one of 1,000 Units CVS Pharmacy and The Medicine Abuse Project, a five-year initiative of the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids, are providing across the country. This program is the largest retail pharmacy effort of its kind to date and supports MAP’s goal to prevent a half million teenagers from abusing prescription medication by 2017. CVS Pharmacy is the only retail pharmacy sponsor of this program, which builds on the company’s Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program.

The senior vice president of retail pharmacy at CVS Health, Josh Flum, said that the installment of the receptacles is part of its ongoing commitment to battle prescription drug abuse in the U.S. and to help the people in the communities CVS serves.

CVS also assists law enforcement by supporting local drug take back events as well as promoting the local collection sites.