BPD to collect prescription drugs

The Bloomington Police Department will participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

Officers will accept expired, unused or unwanted prescription drugs. in their original pill containers or in any other manner. Participants will not need to provide their name, and no inventory of the drugs are necessary, according to a press release.

Officers from BPD will be stationed on the east side of their headquarters, located at 220 E. Third St.

Once accepted, the prescription drugs will be transported to a disposal facility.

More than 7 million Americans currently abuse prescription medications, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Each day, about 2,500 teenagers use prescription drugs to get high for the first time, according to the Partnership for a Drug Free America.

Locally, about 20 percent of Monroe County Drug Treatment Court participants are in treatment for issues related to prescription drug use, according to the release.

The Drug Enforcement Administration initiated National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in 2010.

On April 28, 2012, American citizens turned in a record-breaking 552,161 pounds of medications for disposal at 5,659 take-back sites across the country, according to the release.

When BPD participated in the event during April 2011, the department collected more than 200 pounds of prescription drugs, according to the release, which were transported to Indianapolis and destroyed by the DEA.

­— Mark Keierleber