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THURSDAY, Nov. 19, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Medication drop boxes at pharmacies are a safe and secure way for people to dispose of unwanted drugs<\/a>, but many people are unaware of them, a new study finds.<\/p>\n Medications placed in the drop boxes are collected and typically incinerated or disposed of as hazardous waste.<\/p>\n That avoids them being flushed down the toilet or thrown in the trash, where they pollute groundwater, rivers and oceans.<\/p>\n Since 2014, federal law has allowed retail pharmacies to set up drop boxes to collect unwanted medications year-round.<\/p>\n The authors asked customers how they dispose of unwanted medications and assessed pharmacist recommendations and attitudes about disposal of leftover drugs<\/a>, as well as challenges in implementing proper disposal.<\/p>\n More than a third of customers in the study said they kept their unused medications at home. Their most common disposal methods were throwing the drugs in the trash (27.5%); flushing (15.8%); and using a drop box (8.3%).<\/p>\n The presence of a drop box at a pharmacy was associated with greater customer awareness of proper drug disposal and safer pharmacist recommendations to customers.<\/p>\n “The focus group brought up that consumer education wouldn’t be successful until we have more drop box availability,” said study author Amy Ehrhart, a doctoral student in the Earth, Environment and Society program at Portland State University, in Oregon.<\/p>\n “From their anecdotal experience, those drop boxes fill up quickly and then can’t be used until they are emptied,” she added in a university news release.<\/p>\n The focus group said cost was a major barrier to deploying drop boxes and that the pharmaceutical industry should shoulder the costs.<\/p>\n The findings will be published in the December issue of the journal Waste Management.<\/em><\/p>\n In 2019, Oregon and five other states approved a new law that requires drug makers to pay for and run statewide drug take-back programs. The program is expected to begin by July 2021.<\/p>\n “Legislation that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to pay for disposal or at least provide some kind of funding to have options for disposal is really important,” Ehrhart said.<\/p>\n More information<\/strong><\/p>\n For more on medication drop boxes, go to the AARP<\/a>.<\/p>\n SOURCE: Portland State University, news release, Nov. 16, 2020<\/p>\n Robert Preidt<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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