Meeker sets drug take-back day, auction

MEEKER I If you have old, outdated or unwanted prescription medications in your medicine cabinet at home, area residents can take part in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back, hosted by the Meeker Police Department (MPD) on Saturday.
In addition, the MPD will hold a bicycle auction in which at least 14 refurbished bikes will go up for sale through a silent auction.
Both events will take place at the Meeker Town Hall parking lot, with the drug take-back running from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the bicycle auction running from 10 a.m. to noon.
The drug take-back event offers residents a way to dispose of “expired, unwanted or unused pharmaceutical controlled substances and other medications … for destruction,” an MPD press release states.
“Yearly deaths in Colorado due to drug-related poisonings more than doubled from 351 in 2000 to 838 in 2011,” the release states. “Deaths involving the use of opiodal analgesic (opiate-based medications) such as morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, methadone and fentanyl nearly quadrupled from 87 in 2000 to 304 in 2011.”
The release also stated that Colorado has the second-worst rate of pain pill abuse in the United States, according to the 2011 National Survey of Drug Use and Health.
The event is anonymous and all efforts will be made to protect the anonymity of individuals disposing of medications; no questions or requests for identification can be made by law enforcement officers.
Participants may dispose of medication in its original container or by transferring the medication from its container and disposing of it directly into the disposal box. If an original container is used, any identifying information should be removed from the prescription label.
As a warning from the MPD, illicit substances such as marijuana, methamphetamines or hallucinogens are not part of this initiative and should not be placed in collection containers. If an individual attempts to surrender an illicit controlled substance, law enforcement personnel are expected to handle such material as abandoned property in accordance with department policy.
In addition, intravenous solutions, injectable substances and syringes will not be accepted due to a potential hazard posed by blood-borne pathogens.
All participants are expected to retain possession of their own medications during the surrender process, and law enforcement personnel should not handle the medications at any time.
The bicycle auction will run only from 10 a.m. to noon, and will involve “at least 14” bikes,” Kathy Johnson of the MPD said.
“We are required by law to keep these bicycles for one year,” she said. “The bikes have been rejuvenated — meaning they have been fixed up — but we have these bikes looking pretty much like new.”
A piece of paper will be placed with each bicycle, and interested buyers can write bids down on each bicycle, raising their bids throughout the two hours until the auction ends, Johnson said.
“The high bidders will pay for the bikes and can take them home,” she said. “With the sale over at noon, the bids should be awarded by about 12:15 or 12:30 p.m.”
For more information regarding the drug take-back event or the bicycle auction, contact Johnson at the MPD, 878-5555.