Prosecutor Participates in Operation Medicine Cabinet

PROSECUTOR PRESS RELEASE:
COURT HOUSE — County Prosecutor Robert L. Taylor is pleased to announce his office’s participation in “Operation Medicine Cabinet,” the first statewide medicine disposal day in the nation. The statewide effort is being spearheaded by the DEA New Jersey Division, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General and, the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey and involves all twenty-one County Prosecutors as well as over 250 municipal police departments. Municipal police departments throughout Cape May County have signed, up for Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey, which is available for all New Jersey residents to properly dispose of their unused, unwanted and expired medicine.
Prosecutor Taylor advises County residents to contact their local police department or visit www.operationmedicinecabinetnj.com to determine the closest collection site to dispose of their unused, unwanted and/or expired medicine. Local collection sites and contact information will be updated daily as additional communities become part of this initiative. The event is scheduled for Saturday, November 14, 2009 between the hours of 10:00am and 2:00pm. The program is anonymous and no questions will be asked of participants.
Gerard P. McAleer, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division (DEA) recently reported that the 2007 study by the National Study of Drug-Use and Health states that 70% of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends Or relatives and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), reports that upwards of 9 million people use prescription medication for non-medical uses. Also, the 2007 Partnership for a Drug Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) Principals Survey found that half of the principals surveyed said that prescription drugs are abused more than twice that of ecstasy and cocaine by New Jersey Middle School students.
New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram was quoted as saying “This operation will reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a path to addiction. We can’t break a cycle of dependence if powerful prescription drugs are stashed in our own homes, tucked away in drawers and cabinets.’
Prosecutor Taylor stated “Our medicine cabinets are becoming a source of powerful drugs that are readily available to our children. Prescription drugs are also becoming a gateway drug to other serious and dangerous street drugs.”