In an effort to keep prescription drugs out of the hands of abusers and others intent on diverting them for illegal uses, the Bowling Green Police Department, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Kentucky State Police Post 3 will participate in the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 30, three take-back sites will be set up: at Safety City in front of Greenwood High School, at BGPD headquarters at 911 Kentucky St. and at Kentucky State Police Post 3 at 3119 Nashville Road.

But for anyone who wants to get rid of unwanted prescription medications before this date, there are permanent drug collection bins set up at BGPD headquarters, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office inside the Warren County Courthouse and at KSP Post 3. Those collection bins are there year-round and while they might look like a post office box, they’re not for mail.

“We empty our bin on average about once a week,” BGPD spokesman Ronnie Ward said. “We’ve found mail, and we’ve found some keys and sometimes random notes and things. We make every attempt to get it back to its rightful owner which so far we’ve been able to return every piece that we have found.” 

The city’s collection bin is emptied into bags that are stored in a secured location at the police department and then turned over to the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force during the take-back days in either April or September. He estimates that BGPD turns over about 100 pounds of drugs that are weighed and then destroyed. 

“We feel this program is very successful in helping people get rid of their unwanted medications, which in turn keeps drugs from going onto the street,” Ward said. “From the environmental standpoint, people didn’t know what to do so they were putting it in the (waste)water system (through flushing pills down the toilet or pouring down the drain). This helps alleviate that, the waste going into our (waste)water system. The biggest help is it keeps it from getting into the wrong hands whether intentional or accidental and could prevent a child from consuming these drugs.

“We know the correlation between the drug trade and other crimes such as burglary or shoplifting,” he said. “These go hand in hand. We know if we can take whatever measures available to get these drugs into this program where they can’t be utilized by anyone else, this potentially prevents some crime.”

The sheriff’s office calls a task force detective to empty its bin about once a month, WCSO spokesman Stephen Harmon said.

“The program is important because there are so many crimes that we investigate that surround the use of or theft of controlled substances, specifically prescription drugs,” Harmon said. “A program like this is important to law enforcement but also the general public as we continually combat drug related crimes. A big percentage of crimes we investigate have some sort of drug or alcohol component to them.”

Harmon reminds the public that the bins are specifically targeting unwanted prescription drugs. They are not intended for the collection of needles, which the sheriff’s office has encountered in its bin.

“We’re seeing a lot more of the opiates,” task force Sgt. Tod Young said of the bin at the sheriff’s office. “This last time we had quite bit of Oxycontin and Fentanyl patches. The whole point here is to keep these unneeded narcotics out of the hands of people that would divert them for illegal purposes, keep them out of the hands of kids.”

Task force Director Tommy Loving believes the take-back days and the permanently placed bins have made a difference in the community.

“I think the program has been very successful in making people aware of not leaving controlled substances on their shelves when they don’t need them, getting them out of the house – not only from teenagers in and out of the house but also people who might be tempted to break into a house and steal them,” Loving said. “It’s not unusual for an addict to break into a house where they think there may be a controlled substance, because not only will they steal the controlled substance but other property to sell to buy even more, because drug crimes are hardly victimless crimes in many ways.”

— Follow Assistant City Editor Deborah Highland on Twitter @BGDNCrimebeat or visit bgdailynews.com.