2013 April
April 19, 2013 – National Drug Take Back Drive
On Saturday, April 27, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department, in conjunction with The Council on Addiction, Prevention and Education of Dutchess County (CAPE) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Bring your medications for disposal to the Poughkeepsie Galleria Mall, 2001 South Road, 2nd Floor, in front of Best Buy. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last September, Americans turned in 244 tons of prescription drugs at over 5,200 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. In its five previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2 million pounds-over a thousand tons-of pills.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines-flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash-both pose potential safety and health hazards.
Four days after the first event, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances. DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act. Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.
April 19, 2013
Residents of the Town of Poughkeepsie are advised of a fraudulent phone scam which has been reported in the Town. The scam comes in the form of an urgent phone call to a grandparent and the caller claims to be their “favorite grandson” or just says “it’s me”, prompting the grandparent to supply their name. While the type of emergencies can vary, the caller will request money to make bail, or to pay for automobile repairs from an accident or medical expenses. The caller begs the grandparent not to tell his parents and asks them to wire money or supply their credit card number immediately. Some instances report the incident occurring in a location other than locally, even outside of the United States.
Increasingly, scammers use actual relatives’ names and information obtained from social media and other internet sites. To protect yourself, never wire money to anyone without verifying their identity, don’t rely on the caller’s voice, tell the caller to give you the contact information relating to the incident such as the police department or hospital so you can verify the information is accurate and speak to your family to find out if someone is actually out of town and in need of assistance.
To learn more about these scams and other ways to protect yourself from becoming a victim, go to dev.townpolice.net. Click on “Specialized Units”, “Community Policing” and then “Smart Seniors”. If you receive a similar call in the Town, you can contact the Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department to report the incident at 845-485-3666.
