Staff from the B.O.L.D. (Building Our Lives Drug-free) Coalition were on hand for the National Prescription Medication Take-back event held on September 29, 2012 at the Blessed Trinity Church on Plymouth Avenue. Sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA of US Dept. of Justice), the Fall River Police Department, Stanley Street Treatment and Resources, and the B.O.L.D. Coalition, the event was a collaborative effort to remove potentially dangerous controlled substances from household medicine cabinets. The event gave anyone who wanted to the opportunity to turn in expired, unwanted or unused prescription medications for safe disposal. Ten dollar gift certificates were given out to the first 130 contributors. Such medications are often taken by young people who are unaware of the risks of potential serious harm that they pose. The program was anonymous and open to anyone regardless of residence. "We ran out of gift cards within the first hour," noted BOLD Coalition volunteer coordinator Maureen Brisson. "BOLD is interested in getting all types of medication out of the hands of young people," she added. Click here for the Herald News article.  Click here for a similar event that BOLD sponsored last year. For more information, call BOLD staff director Craig Gaspard at 508-324-3537.
 

(Top row) Over 200 people who came to the Blessed Trinity Church hall to bring expired, unwanted or unused prescription medication for disposal were greeted by Fall River tobacco control coordinator and BOLD steering committee member Marilyn Edge and BOLD volunteer coordinator Maureen Brisson. (Middle row) Walsh Pharmacy owner and BOLD Coalition Chairperson Tom Pasternak is interviewed by WSAR Radio's Hector Gauthier. (Bottom row) Fall River police officers Mary Beth Buglio and Faith Amaral look over some of the expired medications before Julie Charest of the BOLD Coalition, Officer Buglio, Marilyn Edge and Mayor William Flanagan examine the boxes of returned medication.