Full Notification

DATE/TIME: November 14, 2015 10 AM to 4 PM

LOCATION: Township of Ocean Police Headquarters

NARRATIVE:
The Township of Ocean Police Department will be participating in New Jersey’s sixth annual “American Medicine Chest Challenge-New Jersey” on Saturday, Nov. 14 — a public health initiative to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, and encourage the safe disposal of unneeded and often outdated prescription drugs in communities throughout the state.
This initiative prods families to take the “Five-Step American Medicine Chest Challenge:”

1. Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine;
2. Secure your medicine chest;
3. Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine in your home or at an “American Medicine Chest Challenge” disposal site;
4. Take your medicines exactly as prescribed;
5. Talk to your children about the dangers of prescription drug abuse

— They are listening.
The “American Medicine Chest Challenge” is a community-based public health initiative, with law enforcement partnership, designed to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and provide a nationwide day of disposal — at a collection site or in the home — of unused, unwanted, and expired medicine, held on the second Saturday of November each year in communities across the country.

Locally, drop-off locations on Nov. 14 will be at the Township of Ocean Police Headquarters located at 399 Monmouth Road, Oakhurst NJ 07755

“The American Medicine Chest Challenge can help save the lives of our children,” said Angelo M. Valente, executive director of Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. By participating in the Challenge, Valente said, “families throughout New Jersey are safeguarding their home from the potential misuse and abuse of medicine.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has labeled prescription drug abuse an epidemic, reporting that the death toll from overdoses of prescription painkillers has more than tripled in the past decade and more than 40 people die every day from overdoses involving narcotic pain relievers.

Valente concluded the Nov. 14 Challenge is “an awakening to the dangers of prescription drug abuse and a call to action to safely dispose of unused, unwanted, and unneeded medicine.”
Families should take the opportunity to participate.

PREPARED BY: Detective Lieutenant Kevin L. Faller
Public Information Officer
(732) 531-1800
[email protected]

DATE: 11/12/2015