Submitted Photo Picture left to right: Dunkirk Mayor Willie Rosas, SSG. Justin Chernogorec, Erie Co. Counter Drug Task Force, Dunkirk Police Officer, Sgt. Christopher Witkowski, Edward Hayes, Deputy Director of Planning and Development, Dunkirk Police Officer, Matthew Goss, Melanie Witkowski, CASAC Executive Director, Kelley Potter, HOPE Chautauqua Coalition Coordinator.

As part of Hope Chautauqua’s ongoing Take It To The Box campaign, they announced a new location site for a medication disposal drop box at the City of Dunkirk Police Department. This newly added drop box site will allow local residents to dispose safely of their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medication 24/7, free and anonymously. By providing this drop box location for residents, they will have another place to dispose of medications safely in the county.

The medication disposal drop box is located at 342 Central Ave. Dunkirk. All prescription medications are accepted, liquids and sharps are not.

There are additional drop box sites across Chautauqua County: Jamestown Police Department (201 East 2nd St. Jamestown), Westfield Police Department (27 Elm St. Eason Hall Westfield), Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office (15 E. Chautauqua St. Mayville), Fredonia Police Department (9 Church St. Fredonia), Lakewood/Busti Police Department (20 W. Summit Street, Lakewood), Town of Ellicott Police Department (215 S. Work Street, Falconer; M-F 8am-4pm) and Silver Creek Court Clerk’s Office Municipal Building (172 Central Ave. Silver Creek; M-Th, 9am-2pm). Again, all of these are free and anonymous and local residents are encouraged to utilize these resources without fear.

These drop box locations have made huge improvements for not only county residents but for public health and the environment. Studies have shown that flushing prescription pills down the toilet that are unwanted or expired puts more drug compounds into the environment and water supply. HOPE Chautauqua’s Take It To THE BOX campaign is aimed at bringing awareness to the permanent disposal drop boxes in the county and three very important actions Safe Use, Safe Storage and Safe Disposal of medications. These important actions can be taken today to prevent the misuse of, and addiction to prescription drugs and heroin.

Mayor Rosas said, “Having this “drop box” located outside of our Dunkirk Police Department provides one more opportunity for our residents to be assured that out-dated, unwanted, or dangerous prescription drugs can be disposed of safely and kept out of the reach of children or vulnerable adults. I want to personally thank the City’s Deputy Director of Planning & Development, E.J. Hayes for helping to coordinate this important benefit to our community.” Mayor Rosas went on to state, “Once again our Police Chief David Ortolano and Fire Chief Mike Edwards have joined CASAC to make this added resource available 24/7 – the drop box, like our police and fire departments, never closes.”

City of Dunkirk Police Chief, Dave Ortolano stated, “We encourage all our residents to bring in their expired or unused prescriptions and drop them in the box where they can be safely disposed of.”

A special thanks for the coordination and help in this process to the City of Dunkirk’s DPW staff for installing and securing the drop box, Western New York Community Action Partners, WNYCDC, Erie County Department of Health, and the National Guard Counterdrug Task Force.

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs you can go to HOPE Chautauqua on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hopechautauqua or contact CASAC at 366-4623 or 664-3608.

About Hope Chautauqua

HOPE Chautauqua is a community substance abuse prevention coalition and an initiative of Chautauqua Alcohol & Substance Abuse Council (CASAC). Since 1974, CASAC has provided prevention education and community awareness regarding the prevention of alcohol and other drug abuse. For more information visit www.casacweb.org.