Serino Partners With Local Law Enforcement to Shed the Meds

May 31, 2017

Sue Serino_Millerton Shed the MEds — Senator Serino is pictured above outside of the Millerton Police Department with (from left to right) Dave Sherman, Village Trustee; Mayor Debbie Middlebrook; Carol Loper, Town Resident; Sylvia Schultz, Town Resident; Eric Breen, Village Police Officer; and David Rudin, Officer in Charge.

MILLERTON– Because over half of young people who inject heroin report the abuse of prescription painkillers before starting to use the deadly drug, Senator Sue Serino recently partnered with the Millerton Police Department to host a free ‘Shed the Meds’ event. The event, which was held on Saturday, May 20, 2017, was a proactive approach aimed at combatting the heroin epidemic by getting unused prescription drugs off our streets.

“The heroin and opioid epidemic has devastated far too many families throughout our community,” said Senator Serino, a member of the Senate’s Task Force on Heroin and Opioid Addiction. “Safely disposing of our unused or expired prescription medications is a small step that we can all take to ensure that they do not fall into the hands of the addicted. With spring-cleaning season in full swing, we wanted to highlight the community’s newest prescription drug drop box to help raise awareness for this important issue.”

Village of Millerton Police Department Officer in Charge David Rudin said, “When community members take an active role in getting these drugs off of our streets, it brings us one step closer to ending this deadly epidemic. I thank Senator Serino for helping us raise awareness for one of the community’s newest prescription drug drop boxes, and I hope that members of the community will utilize it regularly so that we can cut down on the availability of dangerous opioids.”

Throughout the morning, members of the community were able to drop off their unused or expired prescription medications at the Millerton Police Department, where law enforcement members were on hand to safely dispose of them.

Those who could not attend the event, but still wish to safely dispose of their unused prescription drugs, can do so at the police department Monday to Thursday 6:00 PM to 12:00 AM, Friday 6:00 PM to 2:00 AM, Saturday 12:00 PM to 2:00 AM and Sunday from 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM.

While this event was specifically designed to highlight the addition of this local drop box, members of the community should be aware that there are drop boxes located throughout Dutchess County to provide for the safe disposal of these dangerous drugs.