STATEN ISLAND — Lawmakers have started a push to add lockboxes for prescription pills to all NYPD precincts after a successful pilot program on Staten Island.
Rep. Dan Donovan and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis called on the NYPD to expand the the program where residents can bring unused prescription drugs to lockable drop-off boxes to keep them away from potential abusers.
"Too many parents have buried their sons or daughters. It’s time for a concerted push from every level of government to take back our children’s future," Donovan said in a statement. "Staten Island’s drop box program has been an enormous success — I hope the NYPD can quickly act on this common-sense solution."
In 2014, then District Attorney Donovan and Malliotakis started the program in all NYPD precincts in the borough — the 120, 122, 121 and 123 — which let residents drop off the drugs 24 hours a day, no questions asked.
Since the boxes were put on Staten Island, more than 68 cubic feet of pills were deposited inside them, Donovan said.
"The prescription drug drop box program has proven to be a successful tool in the ongoing war against drug addiction in our community," Malliotakis said in a statement. "It's an easy, no-questions-asked way to safely remove prescription drugs from medicine cabinets and out of the reach of those who might abuse them."
A spokesperson for the NYPD said they've already been in discussions to potentially expand the program elsewhere.
Staten Island has been in the midst of a prescription drug and heroin epidemic, with the borough having the highest rate of unintentional overdose deaths in the city, according to the Department of Health.
However, the number of opioid overdoses have increased citywide since 2010, with pills contributing to 27 percent of them in 2014, according to the DOH.
Aside from the risk of overdose, a survey done in 2014 found that 75 percent of heroin users studied said their first step towards the drug was taking prescription pills.
Last year, heroin caused 57 percent of all overdose deaths in the city, according to the DOH.
