SALT LAKE CITY — As part of a push to reduce opioid addiction, federal and state officials are encouraging Utahns to dispose of their expired or unused drugs on National Prescription DrugTake BackDay on Saturday.
Forty-five extra prescription drug drop-off sites will be made available in Utah, in addition to 133 such locations accessible year-round, in a blitz coordinated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to get people to rid their homes of unused pills that can, among other things, serve as fodder for painkiller addictions.
Utah health authorities ask that old prescription medications be disposed of at drop-off locations because flushing them down the toilet can harm the environment, and pills thrown in the garbage sometimes still end up within reach of someone who is addicted.
"People know to look in garbages, especially if it's still intact in a bottle with a label that says oxycodone," according to Angela Stander, prescription drug overdose prevention coordinator with the state Department of Health.
She said at-home disposal should only be considered when significant precautions are used, such as including medications with an undesirable item such as a used diaper, and should never be thrown away inside the bottle they were stored in.
The extra number of drop-off sites that will be available Saturday include grocery stores, city halls, and police departments and precinct offices. Many police agencies in Utah also have drop-offs available year-round.
The biannual push for a massive drop-off of medication is designed largely to increase awareness about the importance of not leaving unused pills sitting around at home, said Diana Graalum, clinical pharmacy manager for MedSavvy, a pharmaceuticals consumer's guide based in Oregon.
"What we have is some evidence that medications that are being held such as these have been used by family or friends … maybe not with the knowledge of the person who had that medicine in their cabinet," Graalum told the Deseret News.
In fact, 2014 data from the Utah Department of Health shows that 74 percent of Utahns "who are misusing or abusing opioids stated they got them through a family member or friend," Stander said.
State health officials are pushing to reduce excessive opioid prescriptions, she said, but patients must play a part by being responsible with what they do take home.
"Part of that solution to the overprescribing problem is getting rid of them," Stander said of unused opioids.
In addition to putting addicted people at risk, unused opioids sitting in an unsafe location at home can also be a risk to unaware children or curious teenagers, Graalum said.
Graalum added that unused nonpainkiller prescription medications also provide unforeseen dangers. For example, expired blood pressure or heart medication may confuse a patient as to which pills they already have or have not taken, she said.
Graalum said people's tendency to save old medications may arise from a desire to "not to throw things away, not to waste," but that "what in other situations might be a good habit" is, in fact, unsafe with medicine.
Stander said some like to hold on to unused medications, "fearful of rainy days," but "the fear (of) … addiction and overdose should be bigger."
"We know statistically that that's a higher risk than relapsing into pain and not having something (for it)," she said.
Lisa Nichols, executive director of community health for Intermountain Healthcare, said for opioids that must be kept in the home due to active use, theft is best guarded against by storing them in a locked cabinet and keeping an inventory of how much medication is on hand.
Intermountain, which has created 25 year-round drop-off locations at pharmacies around the state, as well as 14 at other locations with various partners, has collected 22,000 pounds of prescription drugs dropped off in the last 18 months, Nichols said.
In Utah, Nichols said, "I think there really is a growing awareness of the danger of prescription opioids and the need to safely store and dispose of prescription medications."
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is coordinating National Prescription Drug Takeback Day, held each April and October, as part of its larger 360 Strategy initiative — a campaign with a goal to confront opioid addiction by focusing on "law enforcement, diversion and community outreach." The agency says 6.2 million Americans misused prescription drugs in 2016.
"(We've) had a substantial amount of pills that have been brought back" on designated takeback days, said Ciara Gregovich, a community outreach coordinator for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox announced this month that there were 237 prescription overdose deaths in the state in 2017, though that number has declined for three consecutive years.
Additionally, there were 159 fatal overdose deaths connected to heroin in Utah in 2017, representing the first decrease in those types fatalities in the state in seven years. Utah was one of just nine states where overall opioid overdose deaths declined from 2016 to 2017.
Those who want to locate a prescription drug drop-off site, regardless of whether it is available year-round or only this coming Saturday, can do so at www.utahtakeback.org/collection.php.