Spring Clean Your Medicine Cabinet

The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention Team (ADAPT) is sponsoring a Spring Cleaning Initiative to promote the proper disposal of old or unused prescriptions and over the counter medications on Saturday, April 25th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Caldwell area residents are invited to bring their medications for disposal to the Caldwell Police Department at 1 Provost Square, Caldwell - or the North Caldwell Police Department at 136 Gould Ave., North Caldwell. This Spring Cleaning Initiative is a collaborative effort in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force, Partnership for DrugFree NJ, and the New Jersey Prevention Network.

Prescription medication abuse and misuse is a growing issue and continues to be a pressing concern in local communities. Nearly one-third of people age 12 or older who tried an illicit drug for the first time in the past year began by using a prescription medication for non-medical reasons. To address these problems ADAPT is working increase awareness of properly securing, monitoring, and disposing of medication.

Joel Torres, ADAPT’s Senior Coordinator stated, “This event is an effort for us to let people know of locations where and how they can dispose of their old or unused prescription and over-the-counter medications. In addition, it gets medicine out of the home before someone suffering from addiction can abuse of it. Our goal is to increase the number of locations around Essex County for residents to properly dispose of their medications.”

There will be six Essex County collection sites located in the Police Departments of Belleville, Caldwell, North Caldwell, Livingston, Millburn and Newark. For more details about locations or for information on preventing prescription medication abuse/misuse, contact Joel Torres at 973-323-3907 or jtorres@familyconnectionsnj.org.

ADAPT is a rich, diverse coalition of more than 100 volunteers, including parents, youth, educators, prevention professionals, law enforcement officials, etc., from all over Essex County. Through community-level interventions, ADAPT strives to decrease underage drinking and prescription drug abuse and misuse by residents throughout Essex County while also empowering all residents to choose healthier lifestyles.

ADAPT is funded by the NJ Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services (NJ DMHAS) and the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). It is managed by FAMILYConnections, a non-profit community-based agency with more than 35 specialized programs for all ages from infants to seniors – including counseling, skills-building, training, and prevention services to improve quality of life by reducing child abuse, drug abuse, gang involvement and crime; by increasing social & coping skills, school success and employability; by healing emotional pain and helping individuals and families become strong and independent.