Darien Now Has a Spot to Get Rid of Your Unwanted Medications

If you want to get rid of unwanted, excess or expired prescription drugs, you can now drop them off at Darien Police headquarters.

The lobby of the building at 25 Hecker Ave., open to the public 24 hours a day, now has a permanent drug collection box.

Prescription medications "can be dropped off FREE with no questions asked," a news release from the Darien Health Department states. The town Health and Police departments partnered with each other to set up the program. New Canaan has long had a similar program.

Don't bring needles, however, since the program is only for medications. (See the attached photos for some specific information on what not to bring.)

The news release from the Health Department also says:

"According to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs. 7.4 percent of youths, ranging from 12 to 17 years old, reported non-medical use of prescription drugs during the past year.

"Properly disposing of excess drugs is everyone’s responsibility as a matter of public health and safety. More than 70 percent of young people abusing prescription pain relievers get them through friends or family, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet.

"Now Darien citizens won’t have to wait for a specific “take-back day” to clean out their medicine cabinets. Discarded medications will be processed as abandoned property and safely incinerated."