[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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