The Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) will sponsor its second annual pill drop on Wednesday.
The pill drop is an opportunity for students, faculty, staff and the greater South Bend community to “dispose of expired and unwanted prescription drugs in an environmentally safe manner,” NDSP sergeant Tracy Skibins said.
The event is part of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, a program run through the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice.
“This is our second medication collection event, and NDSP hopes to make it an annual event,” Skibins said. “NDSP assisted with the Mishawaka medication collection events in the past, and we thought it was such a great service, and knew this was something we wanted to offer our community.”
University spokesman and assistant vice president Dennis Brown said last year’s drive collected approximately 760 pounds of medication.
NDSP officers will be on hand Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. at Stepan Center and between 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Coleman-Morse Center to collect unwanted or expired drugs.
Skibins said the event required a great deal of coordination.
“Although this is an NDSP-sponsored and organized event, the Office of Sustainability, Risk Management [& Safety Department], Transportation Services and Central Receiving have all assisted with the event, and without them, it wouldn’t be possible to host it,” Skibins said.
In conjunction with the pill drop, there will be a blood drive on Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. outside the Coleman-Morse Center, junior and student co-chair of Relay for Life Andrea Romeros said. The drive will also raise funds to support awareness and cancer research.
“We often partner with South Bend Medical Foundation, and they are very supportive of our event,” Romeros said.
