Thursday, October 1, 2026
Residents in the Bellmore-Merrick area and beyond turned out to safely dispose of unused and expired medications during the community’s latest “Shed the Meds” collection event, held Oct. 25 at the Brookside School.
The annual initiative encourages residents to drop off unwanted prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, needles and other sharps to help prevent misuse and protect the environment.
This year, organizers collected 23 large bags of medications and 40 containers of sharps — totaling roughly 410 pounds — according to the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District officials.
“On behalf of the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, the Bellmore-Merrick Community Coalition, and the Community Parent Center, we would like to extend our sincere thanks for your participation and assistance at our 12th Drug Take-Back Day at the Brookside School,” the district said in a statement. “Your dedication, commitment, and support helped make this event a tremendous success. We were truly overwhelmed by the community’s response.”
Eric Caballero, the district’s director of physical education, athletics, driver education, and health, said people began lining up as early as 9 a.m. to dispose of their unwanted medications.
“It went great,” he said. “That’s 23 less bags of drugs that are in someone’s household.”
“Shed the Meds” has become a longstanding collaboration among the school district, the Bellmore-Merrick Community Coalition, the Community Parent Center, local county legislators and the Nassau County Police Department. The effort has been underway for about a decade, Caballero noted, and has become a familiar fixture in the community’s calendar.
“It’s always a good day,” Caballero said. “It’s a collective effort. We work with some of our local county legislatures and the Nassau County Police Department. It’s a community event that’s been going for probably about a decade or so now.”
According to the school district, more than 2,000 teens between the ages of 12 and 17 begin abusing prescription drugs. Experts warn that misuse of prescription narcotics often serves as a gateway to illegal drugs such as heroin. The rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States remain alarmingly high, as do the numbers of accidental poisonings and overdoses. Most abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends—often from home medicine cabinets.
By offering a drive-up, drop-off system, the program aims to make proper disposal easy and accessible while reducing the possibility of medications being misused, accidentally ingested or flushed into waterways.
