525 Foundation, SPD Partner To Prevent Drug Abuse

After months of planning, 525 Foundation and Syracuse Police Department will unveil a Drop 2 Stop prescription drug drop box at the Syracuse Police Department.

The unveiling of the new drop box is at 10 a.m. Thursday at the SPD main lobby.

Officials present will include Becky Savage, co-founder of the 525 Foundation, and James M. Layne, police chief, according to a news release from the SPD.

The program features specially designed, secure boxes that allow people to properly dispose of expired or unneeded drugs anytime.

“We’ve seen a tremendous response from people in our community during our pill drop events at local fire stations,” said Savage. “This program offers a safe and convenient way for people to properly dispose of unused or expired medications. These boxes will also serve as a visual reminder, encouraging everyone to be a part of the solution, making our community a safer place.”

“We are grateful to the 525 Foundation for their donation of a new drug disposal box. This will replace our older drug box with a much safer and visible box. Over the last year the Syracuse Police Department has taken in over 460 pounds of prescription drugs for disposal. This helps tremendously in keeping drugs off the street and out of the hands of our youth. We highly encourage anyone that has medications to dispose of to use the drug box. It is available 24/7 for the public’s use. Items that are not allowed in the box are needles, inhalers, aerosol cans, thermometers, lotions, liquids and Hydrogen Peroxide,” said Layne.

Drop 2 Stop is funded by the 525 Foundation. The new collection box will be located outside of the Syracuse Police Department, 310 N. Huntington St., Syracuse.

“This is just the start of a great relationship between 525 Foundation and the Syracuse Police Department. This was an opportunity to look at what drop boxes they did have in the area and improve on them and make them safer,” Savage said.