Police Departments Collect Drugs

The Cedar Grove Police Department collected 136 pounds of expired and unwanted medicine during its collection on Saturday. The Verona Police Department collected 62 pounds of medicine.

Operation Take Back New Jersey Medicine Disposal Day was created to get rid of unused and expired medicine in people's medicine cabinets. Residents were invited to dispose of their old or unwanted medicine with no questions asked.

“It is important to cut down the illegal use of prescription medication, but it is just as important to stop people from taken the wrong medication by accident," said Capt. Mitchell Stern of the Verona Police Department.

For example, he said, it can be dangerous in certain situations such as if someone were to come home with a splitting headache and reach into the medicine cabinet for an aspirin, but instead pick up the wrong bottle or expired medicine.

The town halls were open to residents between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. that day.

All the medicine that was collected was turned over to the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency for safe destruction, police said.