Drug Mailback Diverts Ton of Unneeded Medications for Safe Disposal
Contacts: Len Kaye, (207) 262-7922; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756
ORONO, Maine – The first-in-the-nation pharmaceuticals mailback program launched in 2007 by the University of Maine’s Center on Aging with federal funding and partnering agencies has officially ended as a pilot and continues for another two years as a program of the state.
The program has prevented more than a ton of unused, unneeded or expired medications from entering water supplies and landfills, or falling into children’s or criminals’ hands.
A final project report from the Center on Aging and the collaborating Maine Benzodiazepine Study Group (MBSG) was accepted May 18 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which provided $150,000 to get the program started. The report summarizes the results of the Safe Medicine Disposal for ME pilot program.
The mailback program has disposed of more than 2,300 pounds of drugs, representing 3,926 returned envelopes, according to the report. In addition, more than 380,000 pills were cataloged via the drug inventory process, 2,777 telephone calls were answered via the program helpline, 250 pounds of controlled drugs have been destroyed and the estimated value of the medicines collected was $572,772.
Often the medicine was expired or outdated and no longer useful. Nearly half (46 percent) of those surveyed reported that, in the absence of a take back program, they would have flushed drugs down the toilet. Another one third (37 percent) would have dumped left over prescriptions into their trash. Overwhelmingly, 77 percent of program survey respondents cited participation because, “it’s best for the environment,” the final report says.
Flushing unwanted drugs down toilets mainlines them into the environment, according to Len Kaye, director of the Center on Aging, and members of the MBSG. Medications do not break down naturally and contaminate streams and water supplies, even after going through wastewater treatment.
“The Maine Center on Aging’s pilot demonstration project was a complete success,” says Kathy Sykes, senior advisor to EPA’s Aging Initiative. “For the first time, we have data on the types of medications that were returned, survey results on why medications were accumulated in households and what the fate of the unused medications would likely have been without this model program.”
Kaye says the program has been a service to both Maine’s aging populations, who are often prescribed multiple medications for multiple irregularities, the environment and wildlife, which studies have shown can develop genetic defects because of pharmaceuticals getting into water bodies.
“Safe Medicine Disposal for ME has succeeded as well as it has it large part because it was quickly endorsed by an exceedingly diverse group of stakeholders across the state – environmentalists, pharmacists, law and drug enforcement officials, health care professionals and Maine citizens,” Kaye says.
After the EPA startup funds were exhausted, the state took over funding in 2009 with a two-year commitment, through 2011, from the Maine Department of Public Safety and the Drug Enforcement Agency, using $150,000 from the Fund for Healthy Maine. Kaye says efforts are being explored to find continued state funding resources after 2011.
The final report was drafted by Kaye, Jennifer Crittenden, Center on Aging research associate and mailback program manager, and Dr. Steve Gressitt, medical director of the Maine Office of Adult Mental Health Services in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Information about the program and collaborating partners is available by calling 1-866-637-9743, or click the link to Safe Medicine Disposal for ME Program under “UMCoA News” on the Center on Aging website.