DEA hosts drug take-back
On Sept. 25, the Drug Enforcement Administration and government, community, public health and law enforcement partners held a prescription drug “Take-Back” initiative that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft. Potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs were collected for destruction at sites nationwide.
In Superior, 41 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs were collected to be destroyed. Statewide, 1,240 pounds of drugs were collected.
“When you look at some of the bigger towns like Butte, we had almost double what they collected,” said Dawn Bauer of the Superior Ambulance Service who helped to coordinate the event. “When I talked to the Montana State Attorney General’s office, they were impressed by the amount our small community collected.”
This was the second drug take-back event held in Superior, though the first one conducted with the DEA. The first event was conducted by the hospital back in June during the health fair.
This was Montana’s second Operation Medicine Cabinet event and it coincided with the first ever national take-back event. The two statewide events held this year have netted a total of 2,570 pounds of prescription drugs, taking well over a ton of these drugs out of circulation.
“Operation Medicine Cabinet is helping us to do two very important things. The first is to raise awareness of the massive risks associated with misusing these drugs,” Bullock said. “And the second, which hundreds of Montanans took to heart (September 25), is to reduce the potential supply by getting rid of all the unused and expired drugs that are sitting in our family medicine cabinets.”
Bullock also said that he is proposing another initiative that is equally important in addressing prescription drug abuse—a prescription drug registry.
“We need to make sure that doctors have the tools they need to help their patients, which is why I will be working with my advisory council to advocate for a prescription drug registry in the 2011 Legislative Session.”
Bullock credited the many local agencies and volunteers who, along with the DEA and his office, helped organize Saturday’s event in 31 communities throughout the state.
The initiative take-back addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are increasing at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.
Prescription drug abuse is becoming the nation’s fastest-growing drug problem according to Gil Kerlikowske, the director of National Drug Control Policy.
“Take-back events like this one are an indispensable tool for reducing the threat that the diversion and abuse of these drugs pose to public health,” Kerlikowske said. “The Federal/state/and local collaboration represented in this initiative is key in our national efforts to reduce pharmaceutical drug diversion and abuse.”
Montana is no exception to this problem and the state ranks third in the nation for teen abuse of prescription pain relievers. Nearly 20 percent of teens admit to abusing these drugs in the past year according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The Partnership for a Drug-Free America reports that the majority of teens agree that prescription drugs are easier to get than any other illicit drugs, including 63 percent who believe the drugs are easy to get from their parents’ medical cabinets.
To view the local take-back totals from other communities and find additional information, visit www.invisibleepidemic.com.