"Safe Disposal Of Prescription Drugs"
On Saturday, April 27, more than 5,000 sites nationwide, and here in Maine, will participate in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. State and local law enforcement agencies like the Bangor and Portland Police Departments, in partnership with the DEA and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, will collect unused, unneeded or expired prescription drugs from the public to prevent drug abuse and theft.
It is estimated that 40 percent of prescription drugs - particularly pain-killers, antibiotics, and cardiovascular medicine - that are prescribed outside of hospitals go unused every year. Left in the home, they present a serious health and safety hazard. Flushed down the drain, they contaminate our waters and our 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.
After marijuana, prescription drugs are the second most common form of illicit drug abuse among our nation's teens. Nearly 20 percent of Maine's high school seniors admit that they have abused prescription drugs, frequently taken from the home of a parent or grandparent. Law enforcement officials throughout the nation say that investigations of overdoses show that a significant source of the drugs is unused prescriptions that collect in medicine cabinets. Too often, other family members or friends may abuse these prescription drugs in the mistaken belief that they are safer than street drugs.
The problem goes beyond experimentation. Drugs in medicine cabinets also can lead to home invasions and burglaries. In addition, young children are often attracted to the colorful pills they discover in medicine cabinets. Unused prescription drugs collecting in our homes are accidents and addictions waiting to happen.
There is also substantial evidence that prescription drug abuse is a major factor in the devastatingly high number of military and veteran suicides. Sadly, the number of reported suicide deaths in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year. According to a study by the Department of Veterans Affairs that collected data from 21 states, on average, 22 veterans commit suicide each day. This is simply unacceptable.
In a recent report, the U.S. Army found that 29 percent of suicides involved individuals with a known history of psychotropic medication use-- including anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medicine, anti-psychotics, and other controlled substances such as opioids.
This report also recommends the establishment of a military drug take-back program to help combat this prescription drug abuse. That is why I am introducing a bill, the "Servicemembers and Veterans Prescriptions Drug Safety Act," which would require the Attorney General to establish drug take-back programs in coordination with both the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs that would help both departments create an effective drug take-back tool to help address the scourge of suicide.
Americans, and Mainers in particular, have 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. During the last National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in September, more than 488,000 pounds of unwanted or expired medications were turned in for disposal.
For more information about National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, I encourage you to visit www.dea.gov and click on the "Got Drugs?" link, which will allow you to search the database for the collection site closest to you, or call your local police department for more information.
