Medication-collection kiosks available at all Kinney Drugs stores in New York

GOUVERNEUR — Kinney Drugs says all of its 75 locations in New York state now include a medication-collection kiosk.

The company on Aug. 1 announced it had finished installing the kiosks at its stores across the state.

The effort was part of a partnership with the New York State Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement and MED-Project, the company said in its announcement. Kinney Drugs in March had installed kiosks in 22 of its New York stores with the intention of expanding to all locations. 

Kinney Drugs, based in Gouverneur in St. Lawrence County, is a pharmacy chain serving both New York and Vermont.

Anyone, not just Kinney patients, can use these kiosks to dispose of unneeded medications, including leftover and expired medications. The kiosks accept prescription and over-the-counter medications for both humans and pets, including controlled substances, Kinney Drugs said. 

Kinney emphasizes that the kiosks are not intended for disposal of sharps/needles (including EpiPens), medical/biohazardous waste, regular or hazardous household trash, or personal-care products. 

The installation of these units brings Kinney to 83 kiosks in total, as the company had previously installed eight medication collection kiosks in its stores in Vermont. 

The kiosks will allow consumers to safely dispose of unwanted medications. The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) and the Poison Help Hotline (800-222-1222) poison centers responded to more than 2 million human-exposure cases in 2020, 77 percent of which were unintentional, according to Kinney Drugs. 

About 40 percent of all poisonings involved prescription and/or over-the-counter medications. In addition, 42 percent of all poisonings involved children under the age of five. Kinney Drugs cited the AAPCC 2020 annual report in providing the aforementioned statistics, it noted. 

“It is crucially important to dispose of medications properly to prevent diversion into the wrong hands or the environment,” John Marraffa, president of Kinney Drugs, said. “...These disposal sites provide an easy, convenient way to safely dispose of unwanted medications.”