An estimated 40 percent of prescription drugs, such as pain-killers, antibiotics, and cardiovascular medications that are dispensed outside of our nation's hospitals go unused every year. Left in medicine cabinets or kitchen drawers, they present a serious hazard to young children. If flushed down the drain, they can contaminate our waters and harm wildlife. In 2002, a U.S. Geological Survey study of 139 bodies of water across the country found that 80 percent had significant traces of prescription drugs.
In addition to accidental poisoning and pollution, unused prescription pain-killers are prime candidates for diversion to the illicit drug trade and an attraction to thieves. While many rural states are experiencing serious problems with diverted or misused prescription drugs, no state has been harder hit than Maine. Since 1997, when I first came to the Senate, the number of accidental deaths from drugs in Maine has increased almost ten-fold, jumping from 19 to 179 last year. Most of these deaths were due to the abuse of prescription drugs.
Moreover, prescription drug abuse is the second most common form of illicit drug abuse among our nation's teenagers, behind marijuana use. Nearly one in five of Maine's high school seniors say that they have abused prescription drugs. Many of these drugs were found in the medicine cabinets, dresser drawers or trash cans of their unsuspecting parents or grandparents.
The sheer amount of this pharmaceutical waste - estimated at 200 million pounds annually - is astounding. Certainly, one of the best strategies to reduce it would be through more efficient prescribing practices, including patient education to improve compliance. Many states, including Maine, are finding that smaller initial prescriptions of drugs known to cause adverse reactions in some patients reduces the waste of both medications and money.
That will not eliminate all waste, nor will it rid our homes of the drugs that have accumulated over time. Safe, effective, and secure methods of disposal are needed. Such a program has been developed and implemented here in Maine.
As a member of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, I participated in a June 30 hearing on the issue of drug disposal. One of our expert witnesses was Dr. Stevan Gressit, founding director of the Maine Institute for Safe Medicine and one of the leaders of the innovative Safe Medicine Disposal for ME program.
This statewide pilot program, established by the Maine Legislature and funded by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant, was launched in 2007. It uses a mail-back system for two primary reasons: although Maine is a largely rural state, all citizens have access to regular mail service; and the U.S. Postal Service provides a high level of security as tampering with the mail is a federal crime. The test agreement between the State of Maine and the Postal Service to initiate this method is the first of its kind in the nation.
Here is how the program works. Consumers pick up special envelopes or small boxes at a local participating pharmacy. Unused or expired medications are put in the mail - either at home or at a post office - and delivered to the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency. The pharmaceuticals then are incinerated in the same high-temperature facility used to destroy illicit drugs.
Before that happens, however, an important step occurs. The returned medications are inventoried so it can be determined what specific drugs are being prescribed but are going to waste. This cataloging, under law-enforcement supervision, is done by volunteer pharmacists and pharmacy students at Husson University and the University of New England. Initially, 100 percent of returns were inventoried, but random sampling was employed as volume increased.
Maine's mail-back program has a success. During the two phases of this pilot project, more than 2,300 pounds of drugs, in nearly 4,000 envelopes, were disposed of and more than 380,000 pills were inventoried.
The findings from this data collection are enlightening and will help foster better prescribing and patient education practices. About 17 percent of the returns were narcotic pain relievers, tranquilizers, sedatives, and stimulants - the very drugs that are most often abused and that are the targets of thieves. In addition, 83 percent of consumers who participated in the program said they previously flushed or threw away their unused drugs. This mail-back program prevented nearly one ton of drugs from entering our water supplies and landfills.
This is a remarkable achievement. The next step is to build on Maine's success and implement such initiatives across the nation.
That is why I am a co-sponsor of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act. This bipartisan bill directs the U.S. Attorney General to set guidelines that will allow both public and private entities to develop a variety of methods of collection and disposal of controlled substances in a secure and responsible manner. These guidelines will include measures to allow long-term care facilities to dispose of unused drugs on behalf of their patients. Professional organizations, including the United States Pharmacopeia and the American Medical Association, have called for national initiatives to promote the safe disposal of unused medications.
Collection methods may vary from state to state, but the Safe Medicine Disposal for ME program has led the way. Maine has demonstrated that our citizens want to dispose of unused drugs properly and will participate in an effort to protect their homes, their communities, and our environment.