Empty Your Medicine Cabinets Of Those Old, Unused Drugs With Swampscott Police This Week

SWAMPSCOTT, MA — Swampscott police are encouraging residents to drop off their old and unused medications at the station through DEA National Drug Take Back Day on Saturday.

This week, police will take the medication in liquid form and creams in their original packaging in a Ziplock-type back, along with pill prescription medications and old veterinary medications. Needles and sharps cannot be accepted.

The Swampscott Police Department also has a year-round disposal box at the CVS that accepts pill-form medications only.

The day is part of a national effort to keep prescription drugs out of the wrong hands where they can be ingested by young people or sold illicitly. Proper disposal is advised because simply throwing these drugs away or flushing them down a toilet could result in them leaking into groundwater supplies.

Those with questions are encouraged to call the station at 781-595-1111.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)