Safe Drug Disposal – Advocacy in Journals

In the Sept. 2015 issue of Ohio Pharmacist they explored the topic of advocating and educating patients on proper drug disposal in the article “Talk with Your Patients about Drug Disposal”. As pharmacists we are the often referred to as the final line of defense in the medication supply chain. Especially in community pharmacy, we are the last one to talk to a patient before they go home with their medication whether it be Hydrochlorothiazide or Hydrocodone. In this article Steven Schierholt points out some unsettling statistics such as over 9,000 Ohioans have lost their lives since 2002 due to prescription drug abuse and misuse. And most of the medication being misused, abused, and sold is taken from friends and family members’ medicine cabinets. This is a serious public health epidemic that is taking lives of members in our communities all over our state, and the country.

Thanks to advocacy efforts and legislation such as HB 4 we are now able to get lifesaving naloxone to those in need. According to The Ohio Department of Health, The Governor’s Cabinet Opiate Action Team has started many statewide initiatives to help combat the opiate epidemic including an annual investment of $500,000 for naloxone.

Thanks to more conscientious prescribing and increased enrollment in PDMP programs (OARRS), The Ohio Department of Health reports that from 2013 to 2014 the number of opiate prescriptions decreased by more than 40 million doses. This article discusses the importance of safe medication disposal, and how to inform your patients. With resources such as DEA Take-Back Day and Rx Drug Dropbox we are able to provide our patients with accessible and easy medication disposal options. The issue of safe medication use and disposal is imperative to our patients and our community, and it is thanks to advocacy efforts from pharmacists that we have made strides in saving lives in the opioid epidemic.

One thought on “Safe Drug Disposal – Advocacy in Journals

  1. This is a huge issue in pharmacy right now! I read an article from JAMA on hydrocodone prescribing practices. Since the DEA made hydrocodone a schedule II, 26.3 million fewer prescriptions and 1 billion fewer tablets have been dispensed! I have hope that we are at least moving in the right direction to help save lives! Great review!

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