This Saturday is the 4th annual National Take Back Initiative. It's a time when you can rid yourself of prescription drugs you no longer need or want.
This nationwide DEA campaign has worked well in recent years, with over 500 tons of unwanted prescription drugs turned in, including 10 tons in Western New York.
Speaking at the West Seneca Senior Center today, U.S. Attorney William Hochul urged citizens not to dispose of the drugs themselves, but rather to turn them in at any one of 33 venues sprinkled across the region for proper disposal, no questions asked.
U.S. Attorney William Hochul said not only are you doing something that is environmentally correct, you may also be removing a source of temptation.
"Prescription pill abuse...comes from inside the home," said Hochul. "More children die from abuse of opiates and painkillers and antidepressants than any other illegal drug combined."
Some of the disposal sites open from from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday are Buffalo State College C lot on Elmwood Avenue; DeGraff Memorial Hospital in North Tonawanda, the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation Health Center in Irving, Erie County Botanical Gardens in South Buffalo, Grand Island Town Hall, the Cattaraugus County Office Building in Olean, Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital in Amherst, Gowanda Village Municipal Building, and Alstar Headquarters North in Dunkirk.