CVS/pharmacy Hosts Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine at Prescription Drug Take Back Event

The event was held as part of National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

WOONSOCKET, R.I., October 31, 2013 – Woonsocket Mayor Leo Fontaine visited a Prescription Drug Take Back event held at the CVS/pharmacy on Cass Avenue in Woonsocket on Saturday, October 26, 2013. The event was overseen by the Woonsocket Police Department, which accepted unneeded, unwanted or expired prescription medications from the public. 

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day was established in 2010 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in conjunction with local law enforcement agencies across the country. The events are held twice each year, in the spring and fall, at thousands of locations in the U.S. Since inception, more than 2.8 million pounds of unneeded medications have been collected and destroyed, helping to prevent diversion, misuse, and abuse of prescription drugs.

In addition to hosting Prescription Drug Take Back events at select CVS/pharmacy locations, the company recently announced the launch of the CVS/pharmacy Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program. The program is designed to provide police departments across the U.S. with an easy way to team up with CVS/pharmacy locations in their area to hold National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events or to help raise community awareness of local drug disposal programs managed by law enforcement.

CVS/pharmacy has established a toll free phone number, 1-866-559-8830, and a website, www.cvs.com/safercommunities, for its Medication Disposal for Safer Communities Program. Law enforcement agencies can use these channels to arrange future National Drug Take Back Day events at their local CVS/pharmacy locations. Law enforcement agencies which operate their own on-going collection site programs can also arrange to have the address and hours of operations posted in local CVS/pharmacy locations.

“CVS/pharmacy is committed to ending prescription drug abuse,” said Josh Flum, Senior Vice President of Retail Pharmacy at CVS/pharmacy. “Defeating this epidemic will require the active involvement of stakeholders throughout the health care community, as well as law enforcement and regulatory agencies. CVS/pharmacy is committed to being part of the solution to this problem.” 

Community members who were not able to attend the Prescription Drug Abuse Take Back event are encouraged to contact their local police department for information on prescription drug disposal programs in their area.

About CVS/pharmacy
CVS/pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), is America's leading retail pharmacy with more than 7,500 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drug stores. CVS/pharmacy is reinventing pharmacy to help people on their path to better health by providing the most accessible and personalized expertise, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS/pharmacy and CVS Caremark is available at http://info.cvscaremark.com.