No jurisdiction anywhere in the United States requires
medication manufacturers (either prescription or over the counter) to create a
program to dispose of their unused medications. Alameda County government
had on its agenda today an ordinance that would have required the thousands of
companies that sell medication in the county to come up with a plan within the
next 6-9 months. The plan was vague and most industry’s affected by the
ordinance had not been consulted by county staff.
The Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce urged the Board
to postpone action until affected companies could be heard from. The
Board listened and action was postponed to no later than June 5.
The ordinance is meant to address three problems; (1)
accidental poisoning when someone takes prescription or over the counter drugs
not intended for them, (2) illegal sale and use of prescription drugs (usually
taken from the proper person), and (3) contamination of the environment
(particularly water supplies) when the chemical compounds of drugs are found in
natural and treated water.
Nothing in the staff reports indicate that the first two
problems will be addressed by creating drug disposals sites paid for by the
manufacturers. And the third problem (which no report provided by County
staff, has indicated is very large nor harmful) is almost entirely caused when
the intended user of a medication passes the chemical compounds through their
system naturally (not from disposal of unused drugs).
The ordinance would require all producers of prescription
and nonprescription drugs (generic and brand name) to develop a “Product
Stewardship Program”. The program would require establishing collection
sites, a mail-in program, an education and outreach program, a tracking program
and disposal program. Each program would have to accept all unwanted products
regardless of who produced them. Each producer can establish their own program
or work collaboratively with one other or all other producers of drugs.
Any violation can of any aspect of an approved plan can leads to fines of up to
$1,000/day per violation.
The County hopes to convene a working group with affected
drug manufacturers and see how the ordinance can be made workable and achieve
any of its objectives.
Labels: alameda county, drug disposal plan
