Month: April 2017

Gerratana and Police Department Celebrate Successful First Year of New Britain’s Prescription Drug Drop Box

Over 376 pounds of unwanted medication collected and disposed of in 2016

NEW BRITAIN, CT—Senator Terry Gerratana (D-New Britain) joined the New Britain police department today to announce the success of New Britain’s prescription drop box on its one-year anniversary. Since its opening, the drop box, which sponsored by Rite Aid and TRIAD, has received over 376 pounds of expired or unwanted medicines, allowing them to be safely disposed of and kept out of the hands of children or people who might misuse them. People who attended the event to deposit their unwanted medicines received coupons for use at Rite Aid and other local pharmacies.

“Prescription drug abuse is a major part of Connecticut’s ongoing opioid epidemic, and I am thrilled to see that people are taking this serious and doing their part by safely disposing of unwanted medicine at the drop box,” said Senator Gerratana, Co-Chair of the Public Health Committee. “All of us have at one time or another kept old medicine around in our homes for extended periods of time. That old, unwanted medicine can become dangerous and potentially lead to an addiction. This drop box gives people a safe, secure location to dispose of medicine for free and with no questions asked.”

“The New Britain Police Department is built on community service, and this is just one more form of that. We have all heard of the many opioid deaths and of prescriptions medicine abuse, and we need a multi-pronged approach to address it. We will continue enforcement, but we cannot arrest our way out of this problem and need to embrace other methods of addressing the problem, like this drop box. Without much fanfare, we have collected nearly 400 pounds of drugs in one year, and I want to thank the entire community for helping to make this happen,” said New Britain Police Chief James Wardwell.

“We are so happy today to acknowledge the progress we have made in New Britain, where we have disposed of nearly 400 pounds of unwanted medication,” said Rodrick Marriott, Director of the Drug Control Division at the CT Department of Consumer Protection. “Last year, we disposed of nearly 34,000 pounds of unneeded medication in the state, and more communities are applying to set up their own drop boxes. We encourage communities that don’t have drop boxes like New Britain’s to reach out to us, and we can help them through the process. Everyone knows someone who has suffered from addiction, and drop boxes are one way to keep opioids out of the hands of those they can hurt.

The drop box will continue to be available twenty four hours a day, seven days a week for anyone who needs to safely dispose of unwanted or expired medicines. The drug drop box is available at the New Britain Police Department, located on 10 Chestnut Street. See Below for guidelines on what the box can and cannot accept.

Can Accept:

• Filled Prescriptions
• Over-the-Counter Medications
• Vitamins
• Drug Samples
• Ped Medicine
• Prescribed Ointments & Lotions
• Liquid Medication in Leak-Proof Containers

Cannot Accept:

• Needles
• Thermometers
• Medical Waste
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Aerosol Cans
• Inhaler

New Britain is one of several Connecticut communities that has introduced a drop box for unwanted medicines. In 2016, there were 33,803 pounds of unwanted medicines deposited in drop boxes around the state. This is an increase of 43 percent over the previous year, when 23,651 pounds of unwanted medicines were collected by the state.

For a list of drop boxes available in Connecticut, visit: www.ct.gov/dropbox.

McCrory’s Bill to Crack Down on Witness Threatening Passes Judiciary Committee on Bipartisan, Unanimous Basis

A bill by newly elected State Senator Doug McCrory (D-Hartford, Bloomfield and Windsor) that creates a tough new penalty for physically threatening or harming a witness in a court trial passed the Judiciary Committee today on a bipartisan and unanimous vote of 41-0.

Sen. McCrory’s bill, Senate Bill 980, “An Act Concerning Tampering With a Witness,” makes it a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison to “physically harm or threaten to physically harm” a witness or a third person who is involved in a court proceeding. New, substitute language was just added to the bill and voted on today.

Sen. McCrory’s bill—if it is ultimately passed by both chambers of the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor—would put threatening or harming a witness on par with crimes like manslaughter, rape, burglary, robbery, money laundering, and human trafficking, which are already Class B felonies punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Currently in state law, it is already a Class C felony (punishable by up to 10 years in prison) to induce a witness to testify falsely, to withhold testimony, to elude the legal summons process, or to make a witness unavailable to testify in any proceeding.

Sen. McCrory said he submitted the legislation after a constituent of his was verbally threatened, and her grandson physically assaulted, after the grandson agreed to testify at a murder trial in Hartford.

“Maybe the increased penalty will stop people from threatening and harming witnesses,” Sen. McCrory said. “When good people make the decision that they want to do something about a crime, and work within the judicial system, and work to make their communities better, they shouldn’t be afraid to do that. Far too often it’s difficult enough to get people to come forward and testify about a crime that has torn apart a family or a neighborhood. I want them to have some confidence that they are not going to suffer if they do that.”

The bill now heads to the Senate floor for consideration.