[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 79 (Monday, May 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S4162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRESCRIPTION DRUG DISPOSAL AWARENESS DAY
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the
immediate consideration of S. Res. 539, submitted earlier today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 539) designating May 24, 2010, as
``Prescription Drug Disposal Awareness Day.''
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. CASEY. Madam President, today I submitted a resolution
designating May 24, 2010, as ``Prescription Drug Disposal Awareness
Day.'' May 24 would be Timothy Michael Strain's birthday. Timmy, as his
family called him, died last year when he was given two painkillers
that had not been prescribed for him. Through their grief, his parents
Bernie and Beverly Strain have taken up the cause of safe drug disposal
to make sure what happened to their son does not happen to others.
In recent years, recreational prescription drug use has grown at an
alarming rate. In 2008, approximately 15,200,000 Americans 12 years of
age and older reported having taken a prescription drug that had not
been prescribed to them for recreational purposes in the previous year.
Our children are finding these drugs in our medicine cabinets and the
results can be deadly.
Apart from the tragic impact on our children, the lack of a safe
place to dispose of prescription drugs is harming the environment and
infiltrating our water sources. Without a place to turn in prescription
drugs people are washing them down the drain where they end up in our
rivers and in our drinking water.
We must work to find a safe way to dispose of prescription drugs and
help make sure that what happened to Timmy Strain does not happen to
any other child. I thank Senator Grassley and Senator Kohl for joining
me in introducing this resolution and I encourage all my colleagues to
work to ensure safe methods of prescription drug disposal are available
in their States.
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.
Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the
preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the
table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be
printed in the Record.
The resolution (S. Res. 539) was agreed to.
The preamble was agreed to.
The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
S. Res. 539
Whereas in 2008, pharmacies in the United States filled
3,649,468,866 retail drug prescriptions;
Whereas in 2008, approximately 15,200,000 Americans 12
years of age and older reported having taken a prescription
drug that had not been prescribed to them for recreational
purposes in the previous year;
Whereas in 2006, approximately 26,400 deaths occurred in
the United States from an unintentional drug overdose;
Whereas prescription drugs are involved in more overdose
deaths annually than illegal drugs;
Whereas in 2007 and 2008, 55.9 percent of individuals 12
years of age and older who used pain relievers nonmedically
in the past year had obtained the pain relievers from a
friend or relative for free;
Whereas in 2007 and 2008, of the individuals 12 years of
age and older who obtained nonmedical pain relievers from a
friend or relative for free--
(1) 81.7 percent indicated that the friend or relative had
obtained the drugs from just 1 doctor; and
(2) 1.6 percent reported that the friend or relative had
bought the drugs from a drug dealer or other stranger;
Whereas the improper disposal of prescription drugs may
result in chemicals contaminating the environment and water
supply; and
Whereas collection programs may reduce the supply of
unused, unwanted prescription drugs in the United States:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) designates May 24, 2010, as ``Prescription Drug
Disposal Awareness Day'';
(2) recognizes the importance of prescription drug disposal
programs to reduce the supply of unused, unwanted
prescription drugs in the United States; and
(3) encourages each State to establish and promote a
prescription drug collection program.
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