Dispose properly of old medications
Prescription drug abuse affects an estimated 12 million people in the United States and is at crisis levels in Illinois. The Illinois Poison Center managed 2,333 cases involving prescription opioids in 2013 alone. As many as 70 percent of adolescent and young adult drug abusers nationwide get their start in the family medicine cabinet. Many users who become addicted transition to heroin; the Centers for Disease Control estimates that close to 80 percent of new heroin users start the road to addiction by misusing prescription pain medications.
To address this alarming trend, the IPC and its parent organization, the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, released "Prescription Drug Abuse: An Illinois Public Health Crisis" in 2013 in partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health. To combat the trend at the national level, the Drug Enforcement Administration recently announced updates to its drug take-back program, an initiative started in 2010 that allows people to return unused prescription drugs to designated locations, in order to keep them out of the hands of nonmedical users.
The IPC applauds this extension and the DEA's ongoing efforts to combat prescription drug abuse. Put simply, these updates will save lives. In the past, drop-off sites for controlled substances, such as opioid pain medicines, has been primarily limited to law enforcement agencies or clearly defined locations on predetermined days where law enforcement might be in attendance. Beginning this month, the expanded drug take-back program will allow people to drop off unused prescription drugs at pharmacies, hospitals, clinics and other authorized collectors, and to mail extra drugs to collectors using prepaid packages, giving consumers a number of more convenient options. Because the consequences of nonmedical use of prescription drugs can be so dire, the IPC encourages anyone with unused prescription medication to dispose of it properly.
Michael Wahl, MD
Medical director
Illinois Poison Center