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:
Cannot Accept:
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.