States 'Recycle' Meds to Battle Costs

[flashl]

NEW YORK (AP) -- The struggle to keep soaring medical costs in check is feeding an increase in state programs that collect unused prescription drugs to give away to the uninsured and poor.

Some states allow donations of sealed drugs from individuals, while others only accept pharmaceuticals from institutions, such as doctor's offices or assisted-living homes. Drugs are typically vetted by pharmacists to cross-check safety, then distributed by hospitals, pharmacies or charitable clinics.

The type of drugs donated run the gamut and include antibiotics, antipsychotics, blood thinners and antidepressants.

At least 33 states have laws to allow or study drug recycling programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most state programs are just a few years old or still in the test stages, but officials envision huge gains.

NY Times

[MercutioATC]

1. Better than throwing them away...

...as long as it's done safely, it's no more dangerous than canned food donations.

[fed-up]

2. I was given an expired medication at our free clinic-I gave it back...

I have enough allergy, sensitivity issues and I can't take a chance that a medication has been chemically changed due to age.

But heck, why not do some experimenting on poor people (or those w/out insurance)

[MercutioATC]

4. Nobody is talking about "expired" medication...

...and, depending on the type of meds, many are chemically unchanged past their "expiration" date (some are not...think of some antibiotics as "milk"...they actually become toxic over time. Most are...they'd be the "canned goods" of meds...they're completely fine well past their expiration dates).

[Yael]

3. This seems a little scary

How can they insure that these are safe? They can't check every pill.

I would like to see costs go down too, but am having flashbacks to the NY State incident where a pharmacist was (illegally) reusing cancer drugs from deceased patients of an assisted living facility and it cost the lives of some of his customers.

[Warpy]

6. The operative words were "sealed meds"

and that covers meds in blister packs that are clearly labeled with the name of the drug, dosage and expiration date and unopened bottles of liquids and pills that still have the factory seal.

Giving out orphan pills from an open bottle is chancy, to say the least.

[Yael]

8. I appreciate, but that is not how I took it

Some states allow donations of sealed drugs from individuals, while others only accept pharmaceuticals from institutions, such as doctor's offices or assisted-living homes. Drugs are typically vetted by pharmacists to cross-check safety, then distributed by hospitals, pharmacies or charitable clinics.

Seems to imply that only donations from individuals had to be sealed.

Case in point. When my Dad died from cancer, we had a mountain of Class 1 pharma stocked up (Oxycotin, Percoset, etc...). Hospice supervised them being flushed down the toilet (only because I didn't get there first :P )

It seemed such a waste.

[Warpy]

9. I know, I had to flush all my mother's stuff

with the hospice nurse. Since most of the "good" stuff makes me puke, it wasn't that bad.

I was just a little upset that the obviously sealed drugs had to be tossed.

[HockeyMom]

5. When were were uninsured,

I went to a walk in clinic. The doctor gave me and my daughter free meds from his samples case.

[Yael]

7. Those would be new drugs that the pharma reps give out