[Pharmwaste] RE: any good data on diversion?

Ed Gottlieb EGottlieb at cityofithaca.org
Tue Nov 10 10:44:57 EST 2015


Debbie,

Illegal diversion will always be an issue, at pharmacies, police stations, and in homes.

For awhile, I collected news reports about such occurrences.  These stories are powerful reminders of the temptation of easy money and the desperation of addicts.

They are also anecdotal accounts.  However many of them are collected, I suspect they will be of limited use in determining what percent of controlled substances received in take back programs are illegally diverted.  I'd be surprised if there is any real data on this.  The DEA probably has data on diversion from pharmacies stock of controlled substances.

I'd suggest that pharmacies who have concerns should to be reminded that the detailed procedures for take back were written by the DEA, an agency that is completely committed to the prevention of illegal diversion.  They need to understand and follow the DEA procedures.

What are the specific concerns that you are hearing?  If it is robbery, a double locked take back box has more security than their stock of controlled substances, which are more concentrated and easier to access.  If the concern is an employee stealing from the un-inventoried contents in a return box, DEA procedure is that no single employee have both keys to access collected medications.  The odds of collusion to commit a felony between two employees is small.

I'm interested to see what others have to say on this.

Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
________________________________
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us [pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] on behalf of Deborah.Hauser at epa.ohio.gov [Deborah.Hauser at epa.ohio.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, November 10, 2015 9:39 AM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] any good data on diversion?

Good morning,

One of the biggest arguments I’ve heard against participating in the collection of unwanted pharms at pharmacies is the possibility of diversion.  It seems like a valid argument, so I’d like to see if there is any anecdotal evidence to that effect.

I’ve contacted Iowa to find out what they have experienced since they’ve had the TakeAway program in place for a number of years.  They still do not collect controlled substances, so I understand any diversion (or lack thereof) they experience could be attributed to that.

I’d like to hear from other states, especially ones that are collecting at pharmacies, to see if there is any data on diversion.

Thank you,
Debbie


[http://epaintra.epa.ohio.gov/portals/11/Documents/Templates/standard_logo_color_email.gif]

Deborah Hauser
Environmental Specialist
Division of Materials and Waste Management
614.728.5353


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20151110/ad86b30b/attachment.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 6386 bytes
Desc: image001.gif
Url : http://lists.dep.state.fl.us/pipermail/pharmwaste/attachments/20151110/ad86b30b/image001.gif


More information about the Pharmwaste mailing list