FW: [Pharmwaste] drug mixtures hazardous?

[Tenace, Laurie]

Post from a non-member.





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From: Jennifer Crittenden [mailto:Jennifer_Crittenden at umit.maine.edu]
Sent: Thursday, May 13, 2010 1:24 PM
To: Lucy, Burke; " <pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us>"@beryl.its.maine.edu
Subject: Re: [Pharmwaste] drug mixtures hazardous?

"Lucy, Burke" <Burke.Lucy at CalRecycle.ca.gov> writes:
>The La Crosse County Sheriff's practice of "dissolving" controlled substances reminds me of another issue, which Stevan or others in Maine may be able to answer - the pharma mailback mailers that I've seen now instruct people to keep the
>pharmaceuticals in their original containers when placed into the provided envelope.  That does seem to increase the bulk and weight of each mailer.  I can see the concern that loose pills could slip out of the envelope, but it appears that even
>putting all the pills together into a single sealable baggie - or maybe into a single pill bottle - and then into the envelope is not an option.  Is this a USPS concern that certain drug mixtures could be hazardous?   If you make a slurry of any
>pills with any liquids and put it in a sealable baggie - which always has the potential to leak when mailed - could those mixtures be dangerous to the average postal worker?  Likewise, if household hazardous waste facilities receive loose
>pharmaceuticals and then comingle them with poisons, how dangerous could that be?
>
>
>
>Burke

Burke,

To answer your question, we advise our mailback program users not to mix their pills to assist us in indentifying the contents once the envelopes are opened and sorted for research.
>
>

Jennifer Crittenden, MSW
Research Associate
UMaine Center on Aging
327 Camden Hall
25 Texas Ave.
Bangor, Maine 04401-4324
Telephone: 207-262-7923
Fax: 207-262-7921
E-mail:Jennifer.Crittenden at umit.maine.edu