Pharmacists Association Launches “Dispose My Meds” Campaign 

Close to 800 community pharmacies in 40 states have joined the National Community Pharmacists Association in giving consumers a way to safely dispose of unused prescription medications. As part of the “Dispose My Meds” program, consumers can turn in unused medications to any participating pharmacy; the drugs then are shipped to a facility where they are destroyed. Consumers also can obtain postage-paid envelopes to package their medications and send via the U.S. Postal Service to a participating pharmacy or one of the other program partners.

Estimates put the number of prescriptions each year in the United States at 4 billion; up to 40% of those dispensed outside of hospitals aren’t taken, amounting to more than 200 million pounds of unused pharmaceuticals annually. These unused medications contribute to more than 71,000 cases of accidental overdose in individuals aged 18 years and younger, through either unintentional ingestion or deliberate drug abuse. Among youths aged between 12 and 17, prescription medications are now the second most abused illegal drug, after marijuana. Additionally, the majority of all poison-related deaths currently are attributed to prescription and illegal drug abuse. Within a six-year period, deaths from accidental overdose in the nation increased by 80%.