[Pharmwaste] Pharmaceutical reuse - LA Times

Tue, 24 May 2005 11:57:31 -0400

Los Angeles Times

                              May 23, 2005 Monday
                                  Home Edition

SECTION: HEALTH; Features Desk; Part F; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 396 words

HEADLINE: Taking matters into their own hands;
Consumer advocates and some doctors make arrangements to give donated
medication
to needy patients.

BYLINE: Daniel Costello, Times Staff Writer

BODY:=00=00=A0=A0=A0To help people cope with rising prescription drug p=
rices, some
individuals,
groups, doctors and states are distributing unused prescription drugs t=
o
patients who can't afford them.=00=00=A0=A0=A0In Baltimore, advocates P=
earl Lewis
and Alexis Southworth have organized an
increasingly well-known donation system in which consumers drop off
unused
high-blood pressure medications, pain drugs and even unused cancer and
organ
transplant medications.=00=00=A0=A0=A0They store the drugs -- up to $15=
,000 worth on
one recent afternoon -- in
Southworth's refrigerator. Within 30 days after someone donates
medication, they
drop it off to a doctor who agrees to pass it along, or sometimes they
give the
medication directly to patients who contact them for help, says
Southworth.=00=00=A0=A0=A0Pedro Rodriguez, director of the Action Allia=
nce of Senior
Citizens in
Philadelphia, is using a model more akin to music file-sharing: He
allows
patients to post notes at a center on who has extra medication or who
needs some
and then helps them link up on their own.=00=00=A0=A0=A0Because so many=
 people try
new medications that don't work or know of family
members who have passed away or no longer need specific medications, "a=

lot of
people want to find something useful to do with it other than flush it
down the
toilet," Rodriguez said.=00=00=A0=A0=A0Some doctors are even collecting=
 unused drugs
from some patients and
redirecting them to those who can't afford them.=00=00=A0=A0=A0(Althoug=
h doctors
often have free samples for patients, they're usually only
for newer drugs that pharmaceutical companies are promoting. Older drug=
s
that
many patients rely on are harder to come by.)=00=00=A0=A0=A0It's unclea=
r how legal
these sharing arrangements are, especially those that
don't involve a doctor. And many doctors remain wary about passing alon=
g
unused
drugs to another patient, especially if they're not in their original
packaging.=00=00=A0=A0=A0Still, those organizing such sharing systems s=
ay they are
only doing what
several states have begun to do. Some states, including Oklahoma,
Louisiana and
Ohio, have passed legislation in recent years that allows unused drugs
from
nursing homes and pharmacies to be distributed to poor patients through=

community clinics. Texas and California are currently considering
similar
measures.=00=00=A0=A0=A0"If they come up with a better way for us to he=
lp these
people get the drugs
they need, let me know," said Southworth, of Baltimore. "Until then,
this is
working out OK."

Cynthia L. Greene
Senior Advisor
US EPA New England
1 Congress Street, Suite 1100 (SPP)
Boston, MA 02114-2023
Tel: 617-918-1813
Fax: 617-918-0813
greene.cynthia@epa.gov
http://www.epa.gov/region1/solidwaste/index.html=