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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | April 6, 2016 12:21 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Madeleine Dean |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Resolution - Recognizing April 30, 2016 as “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day” in Pennsylvania |
| In the near future, I will be introducing a resolution recognizing April 30, 2016 as “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day” in Pennsylvania. In 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began teaming with local agencies to encourage people to safely rid their homes and medicine cabinets of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. Since the inception of “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day,” the DEA and its partners have collected over 5.5 million pounds of prescription drugs, or approximately 2,750 tons of prescription medication. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. According to the DEA, unwanted, unused or expired medications that languish in the home or medications that are not disposed of properly are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. The DEA also states that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. We have all become aware of the heroin epidemic that is sweeping across Pennsylvania and the United States. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), four in five new heroin users started out misusing prescription medications with the rate of heroin overdose deaths nearly quadrupling from 2000 to 2013. Please consider joining me in recognizing April 30, 2016 as “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day” in Pennsylvania. To locate a collection site in your district, visit the DEA’s Collection Site Search. |
Introduced as HR803