Mangano Partners With State Legislators To Combat Prescription Drug Abuse

Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano announced that the Nassau County Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force recently met with State Senator Jack Martins and State Assemblyman Edward Ra to discuss ways to further combat the growing epidemic of prescription drug misuse and abuse. Every day 2,500 teenagers nationwide use prescription drugs for the first time. By August of this year, 19 Nassau County residents died as a direct result of Opiate drug misuse.

“The statistics are startling,” said County Executive Mangano. “It’s a multi-pronged problem requiring a multi-pronged approach to fix. I look forward to partnering with our state officials in this fight. Together, we can ultimately save lives.”

County Executive Mangano has charged the Nassau County Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force - a sub-committee of the Nassau County Heroin Prevention Task Force - with studying the problem of prescription drug abuse and putting forth recommendations for action and change on both the county and state levels.

Assemblyman Ra said he looks “forward to working with the task force on this effort to craft legislation that we hope will ultimately save lives.”

The meeting came just days before the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) hosts its National Drug Reclamation Day,where people can anonymously turn in their unwanted, unused and/or expired painkillers and other pharmaceuticals. Studies have shown that the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet. Previous drug disposal programs have been very successful and we urge all residents to take advantage of this opportunity to rid their home medicine cabinets of these unused, unwanted and expired medications.

The DEA’s National Take Back initiative will take place on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. with 32 drop-off sites inNassauCounty and 18 inSuffolk County. Locations include police stations, hospitals,Adelphi University, and theBellmoreLong Island Rail Roadstation. For more information and locations please visit the following website: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html