Pharmacy takes part in Project Orange
Patients can mail back unused medications
Anyone looking for a safe way to dispose of unwanted prescription opioids has the chance to do just that courtesy of Marra’s Pharmacy in downtown Cohoes and other locations throughout Albany County.
Earlier this year, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy created a pilot program known as Project Orange, after the orange label attached to controlled substances. The program is intended to encourage consumers to get highly addictive narcotics, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, out of their homes in the midst of an epidemic of heroin and opioid overdoses.
Assemblyman John McDonald III, D-Cohoes, who also operates and owns Marra’s Pharmacy, explained exactly how people can participate in the program for free.
“Basically it’s a pilot project that is dealing with the four independent pharmacies in Albany County to provide these little mailer envelopes [to] patients ... we now give them a voucher when we dispense prescriptions for an opioid,” explained McDonald. “They are given a bright or-
ange voucher and they are encouraged to mail back any unused medication [for free].”
McDonald believes that this one-year pilot program will be beneficial, and that it will help to educate more people about getting unwanted drugs out of homes and off the streets.
“We don’t just automatically give the voucher to them, we educate them on the importance of disposing the medications safely and by doing that, we’re taking them out of the household and taking opioids out of the community,” said McDonald.
Once the prescribed medication user mails in their unused prescriptions, the drugs end up being transported to a safe location.
“They’re mailed to a facility where they are [disposed] in an [environmentally safe] manner,” said McDonald, “so it’s a winwin: we don’t have drugs being dumped down the toilet and we don’t have them being left in the streets or the garbage.”
McDonald is also happy this pilot program allows officials to educate people even more about disposing of drugs and also a possible way to help battle the nation-wide opioid epidemic.
“We’re educating the public about the proper use of opioids, but more importantly the potential danger,” said McDonald.
The assemblyman said his pharmacy has been participating in the program for roughly two months and the positive response has been overwhelming.
“The buy in for this program has been tremendous,” said McDonald. “I was recently walking by the area where we have the bags and they were gone ... the technician told me they are gone because people keep coming in for them, so that’s a good thing.”
McDonald said he intends to push in the state Legislature to try to get the Project Orange program state-wide.
“We were happy that the county kicked it off and my hope is to encourage state buy in with all pharmacies throughout New York state,” said McDonald. “This is something that I have been working on and will continue to work on.”