Champaign and Urbana residents had the opportunity to anonymously turn in prescription medications to local police officers for safe disposal on Saturday.

The University Police Department took part in the initiative this year for the first time.

Champaign and Urbana police departments also participated in National Drug Take Back Day, an initiative by the Drug Enforcement Administration started in 2010. The local police departments set up collection stations at two Walgreens locations and at UIPD.

Saturday was the DEA’s sixth Take Back event. Its current policy requires controlled substances, like prescription drugs, to be disposed of by the owner or a police officer. The DEA will continue to hold these single-day collections with police departments until a new policy is in place.

Roy Acree, UIPD Captain, said the department chose to participate in the event this year because it has seen an increase in the misuse of prescription drugs.

“One of the bigger drug issues that we’re seeing nowadays are teenagers and junior high kids taking prescription medication,” he said.

In addition to safety concerns, National Drug Take Back Day also addresses environmental concerns. Skip Frost, UIPD Deputy Chief, said the event not only keeps the prescription drugs from being misused, but it also keeps them out of the water supply, as many people flush pills down the toilet.

“It’s a safe spot for people to come to deposit those materials and know that they can do so without any worries,” he said.

The program works alongside an international, permanent drug take-back program that was started in 2007 by a high school class in Pontiac, Ill. Paul Ritter, a teacher at Pontiac Township High School, decided to work with his students on finding a safe solution to disposing of prescription drugs.

Their research led to a permanent drug collection program at police departments known as P2D2, or Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Program. P2D2 has been implemented in 25 states, Brazil and Paraguay.

“I challenge every community in the United States and in this world to have a program up, just so people can make certain that they’re properly disposing of the material because it does have such a great impact,” he said.

The local police departments are working on the drug disposal in partnership with the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, a program funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Purdue University and the University of Illinois. IISG received funding from the Student Sustainability Committee for the costs of transportation and police labor to dispose of the drugs.

Laura Kammin, pollution prevention program specialist for the IISG, said the water in which drugs are flushed is sent to waste water treatment plants, which are not designed to remove these types of chemicals.

“The pharmaceuticals are still in the water, and they get kicked out to our rivers and streams, which are sources of drinking water for us,” she said. “Also, the aquatic wildlife are constantly exposed to these.”

Marika Nell, chair of the Student Sustainability Committee and junior in Engineering, said the committee funded the project because of effects of flushing drugs into the water sources. The SSC gave $5,000 for two years worth of transporting returned medications for proper disposal.

“It’s more sustainable to take a preventative approach to this, keeping the medicine out of the water in general, than it is to have to pay all the money to treat all the waste water,” she said. “It’s much harder to get something out of water than it is to just keep it out in the first place.”

UIPD’s participation in National Drug Take Back Day represents the beginning of a permanent drug collection program at the department, which is set to begin May 24.

Sari can be reached at [email protected] and @Sari_Lesk.