Donating your meds
While some states allow it, New York does not
By Amy Neff Roth
Healthy Living
A handful of states have created programs to divert unused, unexpired medications from the waste stream into the medicine cabinets of needy patients.
These states allow hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions to donate unexpired medications that have remained in the institution’s care to nonprofit clinics or patients in financial need.
A few states also allow consumers to return medications if they remain in sealed, tamper-proof packaging. New York law, however, does not allow this kind of recycling.
“The premise of it is quite compelling,” said Glenn Beville, executive director of Hospice & Palliative Care in New Hartford.
The program would have to be well managed with a good system for verifying that drugs, particularly those returned by individual consumers, are safe, Beville said. “That’s a heck of a responsibility,” he said.
Beville said he’ll be very interested in seeing how these fledgling programs work out in other states.
But don’t expect to see a similar program in New York any time soon.
“The (health) department’s main concern is protecting New Yorkers from using unnecessary or hazardous medications, which often end up on the street or in the home medicine cabinets of unsuspecting patients,” said Jeffrey Hammond, spokesman for the state Department of Health. “New York’s state law prohibits the dispensing of unused medications. Hospitals and physicians are required to comply with the law.”
Federal law prohibits the redistribution of drugs that have been dispensed to consumers, but lets states set policies for institutions and pharmacies.
Some states, including Ohio and Maryland, get around the consumer ban by letting consumers donate prescription drugs if they’re in sealed, tamper-resistant packaging. In Ohio, hospitals, nonprofit clinics and pharmacies participating in the drug repository program collect donations and then dispense them to needy individuals without prescription coverage. The law establishing the program passed in 2006.
Maryland’s program, which began last year, is similar, but uses pharmacies and health-care facilities as drop-off points, which forward the donations to pharmacies designated as repositories. These repositories then dispense the medicine to patients who meet the program’s eligibility requirements.
Under federal Drug Enforcement Agency rules, these programs may not collect controlled substances.
Reusing drugs after they’ve left the pharmacy is not a “usual practice” because the pharmacist doesn’t know how the product has been stored or for how long, said Rita Chappelle, a spokeswoman for the federal Food and Drug Administration.
“FDA’s concern about recycling prescription drugs is over the stability of the drug as it leaves the custodial chain and enters the patient’s hands. Pharmacies and other institutions should have measures in place to ensure that a safe and effective drug product reaches each patient,” she continued.
State programs allowing recycling must have strict standards for what types of medications are allowed, from whom they’re accepted and how the drugs are stored, Chappelle said.
Every year America’s hospitals and long-term care facilities dispose of at least 250 million pounds of pharmaceuticals and contaminated packaging, according to an Associated Press investigative series published this year.
Some of that waste gets incinerated or sent to landfills, the AP found. Some of it, if it’s in its original packaging, gets sent back to manufacturers, who incinerate it. But most of it gets flushed, ending up in waterways where scientists believe excess hormones have affected aquatic life.
Trace amounts of pharmaceuticals have been found in waters across the nation. Scientists don’t believe the amounts are high enough to harm humans at this point, but federal and state officials have begun studying the issue and looking for ways to keep prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and personal-care products out of the water.
“Gosh, there are people in need. There’s a situation where there are dispensed medications that go unused. Wouldn’t it be great if you could get the two together? Of course, the devil’s in the details,” Beville said. |
