What's in your medicine cabinet? Expired prescription? Old, unused medications sitting on shelves are sometimes too big a temptation for people looking for a quick fix, police say.

   ”If there’s old prescriptions laying around, there’s no good that can come out of it. I think this becomes a point of, they forget about them, then just leave them there,” said Plainsboro Police Lt. Troy Bell. “You could have a visitor to the house or a friend of the children, they go to the bathroom, and the door’s always closed. We’ve had break-ins where they stole prescription medications so it gets out on the street.”

   That’s why the police departments in Princeton Township, West Windsor, Montgomery and Plainsboro are participating in Operation Medicine Cabinet, in partnership with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division, the state Attorney General and the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. Nov. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., residents are invited to bring their old prescription medications to the Municipal Building where they can drop them off, no questions asked, and have them disposed of properly.

   Montgomery also will be running the event at the Montgomery Township Municipal building at 2261 Route 206.

   In Princeton, come to the Princeton Township Police Department, 1 Valley Road.

   In West Windsor, come to the police department, 20 Municipal Drive, Princeton Junction,

   ”You can come and just dump it into the box, and you’re good to go,” Lt. Bell said.

   The event is part of a statewide effort with more than 250 New Jersey police departments. Residents looking for information on the abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs should attend.

   DEA Special Agent Douglas S. Collier said 70 percent of all people who abuse prescription drugs say they get it from home, friends or from relatives. He recommends having medicine cabinets either locked or keeping the medication in a medicine cabinet that is in a secure location.

   ”Stats are telling us that the two age groups we’re concerned with as far as abuse of pharmaceutics is teens and seniors, and the access point is the medicine cabinet,” he said.

   Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger, Eminem, Michael Jackson and more are just a few of the celebrities who have died as a result of prescription drug abuse or who have problems with using them, Mr. Collier said.

   ”People forget that a pharmaceutical controlled substance can kill you,” he said.

   In addition to being addictive, medicines also become more toxic as they age.

   ”There is a shelf life for everything,” he said. “It can become toxic to somebody’s body. You’re putting a chemical compound that has been compromised inside your body. That concerns us. The access point concerns us.”

   For more information or to find a Operation Medicine Cabinet drop off site near you, visit www.operationmedicinecabinetnj.com. Do not bring syringes for disposal.

jsaccenti

@centraljersey.com. 