Sept. 23, 2010

To all Castle Pines North citizens:

Clean Medicine Cabinets of Unwanted Prescription Drugs Sept. 25
Castle Pines North residents are urged to clean out their medicine cabinets of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs as part of the National Prescription Take Back Day, Saturday, Sept. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office is participating with the Drug Enforcement Administration and government, community, public health and law enforcement officials around the country in this first-ever event. The local drop-off location is the Highlands Ranch Metro District/Centennial Water and Sanitation District offices, 62 W. Plaza Dr., Highlands Ranch.

The primary objective behind the event is to reduce the risk of prescription drugs being consumed inappropriately – either by accident or through theft and illegal sale.

The collection also helps reduce the potentially harmful effect of prescription drugs on the environment. People have long been advised to flush unused drugs down the toilet – but that has the potential for those drugs to harm aquatic life or get into the human water supply. If people just throw the drugs away in the garbage, they can break down in landfills and also enter the water supply from there.

Items that cannot be accepted for the take-back program include needles and sharps, mercury (thermometers) oxygen containers, chemotherapy/radioactive substances, pressurized canisters and illicit drugs.

Community Meeting on Fire Mitigation, Wildfire Preparedness and Evacuation Procedures
The Castle Pines North City Council will host a Community Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 6 from 6:30 - 8 p.m. at the CPN Community Center, on the subjects of fire mitigation, wildfire preparedness and evacuation procedures.

Einar Jensen, Life Safety Educator with South Metro Fire Rescue Authority, will conduct the presentation and answer questions.

With the recent outburst and continuing threat of wildfires, the information presented becomes all the more timely and important.