Washington Township Police Department will be hosting an Operation Take Back New Jersey local collection site as part of the Operation Take Back NJ medicine disposal day.

The event will take place at Police Headquarters located at 1 East Springtown Road between the hours of 10 AM . and 2 PM on Saturday, April 30, 2011. This initiative, open to all residents, was organized to encourage local community residents to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted and expired medicine.

This statewide effort, with the majority of New Jersey police departments participating, is being spearheaded by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New Jersey Division, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, the NY/NJ HIDTA, and the New Jersey National Guard.

Washington Township residents looking for information on the program and local collection sites should visit www.operationtakebacknj.com.

John G. McCabe, Jr., Acting Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the DEA New Jersey Division stated, “Last year New Jersey opened its medicine cabinets and we collected 14,436 pounds of medicine that was unwanted. This year, we are very excited about the continued support brought on by Operation Take Back New Jersey, and we hope all citizens will take time to eliminate any and all medicines that are not suitable for proper medical use. The more public attention we bring to this issue, the more we trust that people will become educated on the dangers of prescription drug abuse.”

Acting SAC McCabe stated, “This record seizure was a direct response by our citizens in New Jersey to support law enforcement in DEA’s prescription drug abuse efforts. New Jersey residents assisted us by cleaning their homes of unwanted medicines that could have potentially been diverted and abused by our youth. DEA set out to help all of New Jersey by implementing Operation Take Back New Jersey, and in turn, the citizens are the ones that assisted DEA in this record seizure.”

McCabe also indicated that two main goals were accomplished first and foremost, it generated education and awareness to the issues of prescription and over the counter medicine abuse, and secondly, it offered thousand of New Jersey residents the opportunity to rid their homes of medicines that were no longer needed”.

If you any questions please contact Sgt. Douglas Compton 908.876.3232 or dcompton@wtpdmorris.org