The new law will allow patients who have “lawfully obtained a controlled substance” to deliver medicines to drug take-back and recycling programs that haven’t formally registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The act makes it easier for patients and long-term care facilities to recycle unused drugs, rather than having to formally hand over medications to law enforcement agencies.
However, all disposal programs must still comply with regulations issued by the Attorney General, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America reported on its website.
Upwards of 4 billion prescriptions are written annually in the United States, and some estimate that roughly 40 percent of drugs dispensed out of hospitals go unused. Regulatory agencies from the DEA to the Environmental Protection agency have long been worried about unused medications.
“The passage of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 will save lives by providing patients with safe, environmentally sound ways to dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs,” R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement. “Prescription drug abuse is America’s fastest-growing drug problem, and one largely fed by an unlikely source – Americans’ medicine cabinets.”
The new law is expected to boost pharmaceutical recycling, yet much more can still be done to protect citizens and the environment. Taking a second look at expiration dates, improving electronic medical records and changing co-pay structures to allow patients to partially fill restrictions – rather than entirely filling them – may pose other opportunities for reform, the nonprofit Project Stewardship Institute suggested in a study.
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