MICHIGAN CITY A La Porte County organization is happy with the results of a five-year campaign to encourage the proper disposal of unneeded, out-of-date or unused prescription drugs. According to the organizations data, more than 3,000 pounds of drugs have been collected in the effort.

This 3,043 pounds of pills, a ton and a half, will not end up in a childs hands or in our environment, TRIAD treasurer Tom Szawara said in a report issued March 1. These pills have been removed from La Porte County and incinerated in South Bend.

TRIAD is a volunteer organization comprised of three law enforcement agencies, members from 25 community organizations and several senior citizens. The organization began the pill collection effort in 2007. Utilizing community pill collection events, 504 pounds were collected the first year.

Public awareness efforts and multiple collection events in 2008 and 2009 spurred participation, with 852 pounds collected in 2008 and 812 pounds in 2009. The numbers since those two peak years have gone down, with 2011 contributing only 60 pounds from three community collection events to the campaigns total.

In 2011, TRIAD added permanent drop boxes in the La Porte County Sheriffs Office and the Michigan City Police Department. These drop boxes collected 150 pounds of pills from April 14 through March 1.

At the Michigan City Police Station, the drop box is available 24 hours a day. The box is designed to prevent anyone from reaching inside to get at the pills. It can only be opened by the police using a key.

We have a no questions asked policy, said Michigan City Police Sgt. Chris Yagelski.

Getting rid of prescription drugs through the drop box program achieves two objectives, Yagelski said. The first is that it is a more environmentally-friendly way of disposing of narcotics. The containers turned in are recycled through a outside contractor and reused in Haiti.

The second reason is that cleaning out home medicine cabinets is a wise thing to do.

People hold on to medication just in case, Yagelski said. If its there, children and grandkids can get into it to sell or use.

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TRIAD reports success in pill drop effort