{ "id": "R40548", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R40548", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 419889, "date": "2010-10-19", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T22:14:15.410214", "title": "Legal Issues Relating to the Disposal of Dispensed Controlled Substances", "summary": "According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, the intentional use of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes is the fastest-growing drug problem in the country and the second-most common form of illicit drug abuse among teenagers in the United States, behind marijuana use. Young adults and teenagers may find their parents\u2019 prescription drugs in unsecured medicine cabinets or other obvious locations in the home, or they may retrieve expired or unwanted medication from the trash. It is believed that properly disposing of unwanted medications would help prevent prescription drug abuse by reducing the accessibility and availability of such drugs. Yet throwing prescription medications into the trash or flushing them down the toilet may not be environmentally desirable. In response, many local communities and states have implemented pharmaceutical disposal programs (often referred to as drug \u201ctake-back\u201d programs) that collect unused and unwanted medications from patients for incineration or other method of destruction that complies with federal and state laws and regulations, including those relating to public health and the environment.\nPrescription drugs may be categorized as either controlled substance medication or non-controlled substance medication. Pharmaceutical controlled substances, such as narcotic pain relievers OxyContin\u00ae and Vicodin\u00ae, are among the most commonly abused prescription drugs. However, community take-back programs usually only accept non-controlled substance medication, in compliance with the federal Controlled Substances Act. This statute comprehensively governs all distributions of controlled substances, and it currently does not allow for a patient to transfer a controlled substance to another entity for any purpose, including disposal of the drug. (Federal regulations provide a limited exception to this general prohibition\u2014local law enforcement may obtain a waiver from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to collect unused controlled substances from patients and destroy them.) As a consequence, patients seeking to reduce the amount of unwanted controlled substances in their possession have few alternative disposal options beyond discarding or flushing them.\nThe 111th Congress has considered legislation that would create a legal framework governing disposal of controlled substances that have been dispensed to patients. On October 12, 2010, President Obama signed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 (S. 3397) into law (P.L. 111-273). P.L. 111-273 amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow a patient to deliver controlled substances to an entity that is authorized by federal law to dispose of them, providing that such disposal occurs in accordance with regulations issued by the Attorney General to prevent diversion of controlled substances. The Attorney General is required, in developing those regulations, to take into consideration the public health and safety, as well as the ease and cost of drug disposal program implementation and participation by various communities. Also, P.L. 111-273 gives the Attorney General discretion to issue regulations that authorize long-term care facilities to dispose of controlled substances on behalf of patients who reside in those facilities. \nOther related bills in the 111th Congress include the Safe Drug Disposal Act of 2010 (H.R. 5809), the Safe Drug Disposal Act of 2009 (H.R. 1191, S. 1336), the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2009 (H.R. 1359, S. 1292), and the Safe Prescription Drug Disposal and Education Act (H.R. 5925).", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R40548", "sha1": "7d1ca14f420be853914bebedbff551a5a5c5d93a", "filename": "files/20101019_R40548_7d1ca14f420be853914bebedbff551a5a5c5d93a.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R40548", "sha1": "00edeaa0c2647404146a9dae2bbd271f54a37be8", "filename": "files/20101019_R40548_00edeaa0c2647404146a9dae2bbd271f54a37be8.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc31336/", "id": "R40548_2010Sep24", "date": "2010-09-24", "retrieved": "2011-03-09T09:26:47", "title": "Legal Issues Relating to the Disposal of Dispensed Controlled Substances", "summary": "This report describes an issue that is the fastest-growing drug problem in the country -- the intentional use of prescription drugs for non-medical purposes. It is the second-most common form of illicit drug abuse among teenagers in the United States behind marijuana use. Several bills have been introduced in the 111th Congress that would create a legal framework governing disposal of controlled substances that have been dispensed to patients.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20100924_R40548_3b4ac059ef84ae14f40be3eefc28e27c602d9974.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20100924_R40548_3b4ac059ef84ae14f40be3eefc28e27c602d9974.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Drug abuse", "name": "Drug abuse" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Children", "name": "Children" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Drugs and youth", "name": "Drugs and youth" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Medicine", "name": "Medicine" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Drugs", "name": "Drugs" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc812354/", "id": "R40548_2010Jul30", "date": "2010-07-30", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Legal Issues Relating to the Disposal of Dispensed Controlled Substances", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20100730_R40548_6447faa92a46388015af7c19b84a812b6bd60653.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20100730_R40548_6447faa92a46388015af7c19b84a812b6bd60653.html" } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc819809/", "id": "R40548_2009Jun23", "date": "2009-06-23", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Legal Issues Relating to the Disposal of Dispensed Controlled Substances", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20090623_R40548_da01fa69c73685269b40041dc481ec32afdc19d1.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20090623_R40548_da01fa69c73685269b40041dc481ec32afdc19d1.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Health Policy" ] }