What are the poisoning and abuse concerns associated with household medicine waste?

Poisoning and abuse remain the most acute human health concerns related to left-over and unwanted medicines in people’s homes. Getting rid of unneeded medicines from our homes safely will help reduce access to drugs that could be abused or taken by mistake. 

Secure Medicine Return: Reducing Access to Prescription Drugs to Protect Our Children & Families

Poisoning

Storing unneeded medicines in the home or disposal of unwanted medicines in household trash receptacles, contributes to the risk of accidental poisonings. This is particularly a concern for households with vulnerable populations such as children and the elderly.

According to a study by the Washington Department of Health, unintentional poisoning death rates in Washington State have increased 395% between 1990 and 2006, from 2.3 to 11.3 per 100,000 people.[1]

From 2005-2006, 63% of unintentional poisonings were attributed to prescription drugs, and 22% more were attributed to a combination of prescription and illicit drugs.[1]

Nationwide, medications are the most common poison exposure category.  The Centers for Disease Control reports that drugs caused 94.3% of the unintentional and undetermined poisoning deaths (2003).

More than half, or 36,770, of the exposure calls reported by the Washington Poison Center involved children under six, and almost half of these children were poisoned by medicines.

The elderly are also at risk of accidental poisonings:  in 2007, over 7,000 calls to the Poison Center were from the older adult population and 66% of these involved medications.[2]

In 2006 the federal government reported that children were the most common victims of nonfatal poisonings involving “accidentally” taking prescription or over-the-counter drugs. Among such incidents in 2004, pain and cardiovascular medications, antidepressants, and sedative/hypnotics were most commonly ingested. Acetaminophen-containing drugs, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and opioids were the leading types of pain medications. This data was collected from records of emergency departments by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Abuse

Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing problem in our communities. Storing unneeded drugs in our medicine cabinets increases opportunities for illegitimate access and drug abuse. In their 2005 study, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) found that the number of Americans who abused controlled prescription drugs had nearly doubled from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003.  Additionally, CASA found that prescription drug abuse among teens had more than tripled during that time. Much of this abuse appears to be fueled by the relative ease of access to prescription drugs.

Storing unneeded medicines in our homes increases opportunities for drug diversion and drug abuse.

• Over half of the people using prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons obtained them from a friend or relative. [3]
• 15% of 10th graders in Washington who abused prescription pain relievers got them from their own home or someone else’s home without permission.  [4]

Assistant Surgeon General Eric Broderick, D.D.S., M.P.H., the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Acting Deputy Administrator, stated in a 2006 press release that:

 “…70 to 80 percent of those 12 years or older said they got their drugs from a friend or relative… Parents and other caregivers should store their prescription drugs carefully and dispose of any unused drugs before they can fall into the wrong hands.”

Abuse of prescription drugs and other medicines is a growing problem among teens.  A report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy found [5].

• Prescription drugs are the drug of choice among 12- and 13-year olds.
• New abusers of prescription drugs are now as common as new users of marijuana.
• Pain relievers like OxyContin and Vicodin are the prescription drugs most commonly abused by teens.
• One third of all new abusers of prescription drugs in 2005 were 12- to 17-year olds.
• Teens are also abusing some over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, primarily cough and cold remedies that contain dextromethorphan (DXM), a cough suppressant, to get high.

Sources of Information:

[1] Washington State Department of Health, 2008, Washington State Injury and Violence Prevention Guide-Poisoning and Drug Overdose. Injury and Violence Prevention Program, DOH Publication No. 530-090.
Avaliable at http://www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/emstrauma/injury/pubs/icpg/DOH530090Poison.pdf
Accessed 08/26/08.

[2] Washington Poison Center website, http://www.wapc.org/resources/wapc_resources.htm ,2007

[3] Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2007. Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings. Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-32, DHHS Publication No. SMA 07-4293). Available online at: http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k6nsduh/2k6Results.cfm#TOC

[4] 2008 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey.  http://www.hys.wa.gov/Reporting/Default.aspx

[5]“Prescription for Danger: A Report on the Troubling Trend of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Abuse Among the Nation’s Teens”, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Executive Office of the President, January, 2008.  Available online at: http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/prescription_report.pdf, accessed 11/20/08.