Suffolk police launch prescription drug dropoff program

Blue receptacles recently installed in Suffolk police precincts are the county's latest tool against prescription pill abuse and aim to address environmental concerns about medicines reaching drinking water.

The metal boxes, bolted to the floor in the foyers of all seven Suffolk police precinct buildings, are now available to the public for anonymous drop-offs of prescription pills. And though police departments and municipalities have sponsored drug drop-off events, the boxes' 24-hour, seven-day-a-week accessibility makes Operation Medicine Cabinet unique in the state, County Executive Steve Levy said at the Fifth Precinct in Patchogue yesterday.

The boxes have a secure chute into which bagged pills or other drugs can be dropped. Needles and liquids should not be left for safety reasons, officials said. Police personnel will periodically collect the drugs, which will be incinerated along with contraband drugs seized by the department.

"These drugs in the bathroom cabinet can be accessible to our children, and we don't want that to be the case," Levy said. "Secondly, when these are discarded cavalierly, the compounds get into our water supply. That is something we . . . can avoid quite easily."

Local health officials have long pointed to painkillers gathered from family medicine cabinets as a major contributor to opiate addiction on Long Island. Trace amounts of prescription drugs have also been found in ground and surface water, but as yet there are no known health consequences.

The boxes were purchased for $700 each from police asset forfeiture funds. Officials said running the program does not entail additional expense.

A county employee suggested the drop-off program, Levy said, in a 2008 program in which the public submitted quality-of-life ideas to the county executive's office.