Nassau County’s medicine cabinets are holding onto a public health problem, and the Town of Oyster Bay wants to help you get rid of it.
On Saturday, May 2, the Town of Oyster Bay and the Village of Massapequa Park are co-hosting a “Shed the Meds” Drug Take Back Day at Massapequa Park Village Hall. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., it’s free, it’s anonymous, and you don’t have to answer a single question. Drop-off is in the back parking lot at Village Hall. Drug Free Long Island and the Nassau County Police Department are both partners in the effort.
Three hours. Show up. Hand over whatever you’ve got.
Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino made the case plainly. “This Drug Take Back Day is a great opportunity to rid your medicine cabinet of old and unwanted prescription drugs,” he said. “Through proper disposal of old medications, we can prevent them from contaminating the environment through improper disposal and also keep them out of the wrong hands and away from young people.”
That second part isn’t just talking points. Prescription drug misuse among teenagers on Long Island doesn’t typically start on a street corner. It starts in the family bathroom, with leftover pills from a 2023 surgery or an old injury that healed and got forgotten. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, unused prescription opioids are one of the most common gateways to addiction. The pills that didn’t get finished aren’t harmless leftovers. They’re sitting there with real risk attached to them.
The environmental piece is worth taking seriously, too. Most people’s instinct is to flush old medication down the toilet. That’s wrong. Pharmaceuticals that enter the water supply don’t break down the way people assume. Wastewater treatment infrastructure, much of it designed well before 2010, wasn’t built to filter out drug compounds. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has flagged pharmaceutical contamination as a sustained concern for aquatic ecosystems and drinking water sources. Long Island’s groundwater already carries nitrogen runoff and decades of legacy contamination. Flushing your leftover blood pressure medication into that system isn’t a neutral act.
The logistics here aren’t complicated. If you’re bringing pills in their original container, strip your name and personal information off the label before you arrive. Liquid medication won’t be accepted at this event. Intravenous solutions, injectables, and syringes can be brought in. Don’t bring illicit substances. That’s not what the program covers, and it won’t work out the way you’re hoping.
For residents who can’t make the April 10 announcement or the May 2 event date, Nassau County Police precincts maintain permanent year-round drop boxes. No event required, no waiting around. Long Island Press first reported the announcement on April 10.
If you’ve got questions before showing up, Drug Free Long Island is the nonprofit running coordination for the Massapequa Park event. They can be reached at 516-639-2386 or at info@drugfreeli.org. That number’s worth saving if you’re not sure whether what you’ve got qualifies for drop-off.
The DEA’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day program has been running nationally since 2010, and the participation numbers nationwide tell you something about how much unused medication Americans are sitting on. It’s a lot. Nassau County’s share of that problem isn’t small, and a three-hour drop window on a Saturday morning is about the lowest barrier it gets for doing something responsible with whatever’s left in the cabinet.
Saladino’s office isn’t wrong that this is a straightforward opportunity. The question is whether enough residents in Massapequa Park and the broader Town of Oyster Bay actually show up to make it count. The parking lot at Village Hall will be open. Three hours in 2026 could keep a meaningful number of pills out of the wrong hands.