Prescription Drug Disposal Awareness Day

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, I am pleased to join my colleagues, Senator Casey and Senator Kohl, in submitting a resolution to designate May 24, 2010 as the ``Prescription Drug Disposal Awareness Day.''

The abuse of prescription narcotics such as pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives is currently the fastest growing drug abuse trend in the country. According to the most recent National Survey of Drug Use and Health, NSDUH, nearly 7 million people have admitted to using controlled substances without a doctor's prescription. People between the ages of 12 and 25 are the most common group to abuse these drugs. However, more and more people are dying because of this abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the unintentional deaths involving prescription narcotics increased 117 percent from the years 2001 to 2005. These are statistics that can no longer be ignored and tolerated.

Regretfully, we read about children dying as a result of prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse. An article from February 2009 in the Des Moines Register reports on the death of a 14-year-old Brody Middle School Student who was found dead at his home from an apparent overdose of prescription drugs. The same article reports that 85 percent of drug and alcohol overdoses at the children's emergency center at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines are from prescription or over-the-counter medicines.

Millions of Americans are prescribed controlled substances every year to treat a variety of symptoms due to injury, depression, insomnia, and other conditions. Many legitimate users of these drugs often do not finish their prescriptions. As a result, these drugs remain in the family medicine cabinet for months or years because people forget about them or do not know how to properly dispose of them. However, these drugs, when not properly used or administered, are just as addictive and deadly as street drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine.

According to the NSDUH, more than half of the people who abuse prescription narcotics reported that they obtained controlled substances from a friend or relative or from the family medicine cabinet. As a result, most community antidrug coalitions, public health officials, and law enforcement officials have been encouraging people within their communities to dispose of old or unused medications in an effort to combat this growing trend.

This is also why I have cosponsored the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010. This legislation will enable the Attorney General of the United States to issue guidelines to help States and communities establish prescription drug take-back programs. Current law makes efforts to establish these programs difficult and time consuming. However, efforts to get old and unwanted medicines out of the home have shown signs of great promise to be successful if widely adopted. For example, the town of Clinton, IA, has held an annual ``Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet'' day that has collected over 300 pounds of old or unwanted medicine from the community. This is medicine that will not fall into the hands of a child or stranger or cause potential harm to any user.

It is important that we encourage people to dispose of their old or unwanted medicines so that they will not fall into the wrong hands. This is why I am pleased to be submitting this resolution and why I encourage all my colleagues to join us in raising public awareness of this important issue.

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