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<DIV>Based on a comment I received, I want to clarify my last email.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My thought was to ask the DEA to request any information collected by locations on their own initiative. I would not dream of asking the DEA to request that anyone collect more information than they want to. Providing the form with questions would give participants who want to collect data ideas about what they might choose to focus on. Just creating this list reminded me that I had forgotten to weigh the recycling we pulled out of the material brought in. Luckily, it was still around! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The only additional work generated would be a few minutes for sites with additional data (probably a very small percent of participating sites) to send it to the DEA. The DEA could choose to have someone analyze the information that comes in or they could simply hold it for others (maybe some of us) to download and analyze. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By the way, we recycled less than half of the packaging that came in (had to give it up when we fell behind.) It came to 114.1 pounds (53.5 of which was pill bottles.) Adding this total to the 1227.5 taken by the DEA yields a packaging diversion rate of 8.5% by weight. My guesstimate would be towards the lower half of the 25%-35% packaging range offered below. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Ed</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>> "DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)" <Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov> 5/7/2012 10:43 AM >>><BR><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099">Ed,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> Every agent does things a little differently so it may be that the agent that covers New York isn’t as forthcoming with information about the individual sites as the agent we have in Virginia. Jay shares a lot of what he sends to Law Enforcement with me, mostly because I established a good relationship with him/DEA when he was first tasked with doing the collections. He is pretty meticulous with recording the information collected in his jurisdiction, and distributes items provided to him by Poison Control and us, the environmental agency along with the DEA materials for collection day.. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> The overall goal of the DEA Take Back program is to collect as much as they can, and to make it as simple and safe for law enforcement as possible. (Remember that not all law enforcment folks are created or trained equally, and may only have one bullet for a reason.) Law enforcement appreciates their intent since they too are mostly interested in the end result of getting the drugs out of homes. The DEA directions include encouraging people to drop their drugs into the collection box in whatever the participants have them in so that law enforcement doesn’t have to handle them – just no sharps or aerosols. The only way to collect more information would be to have additional volunteers that are pharmacists, or pharmacology students to sort and do record keeping. The DEA agents probably aren’t going to want to deal with encouraging that additional level of staffing at the sites given the monumental task of organizing this endeavor nationwide. The secondary issue is whether the law enforcement that run each site will want to deal with collecting that level of detailed information, versus “just throw it in the box” instructions. Another complication may be something as simple as “turf”, given the DEA is federal suggesting extra work to state, municipal or county law enforcement. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> It is interesting to see the breakdown of controlled substances, non-controlled substances, recyclable vials and trash that are turned in and ultimately destroyed, but I don’t know how relevant it really is to the people sponsoring the events. My “guesstimate” is that about 25-35% of what is collected is packaging based on what I’ve seen during my county collections. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> The law enforcement perspective is that there are less controlled substances that can be abused in their jurisdiction. The health and poison control professions would be glad to see all of the medications destroyed to keep them from being abused, and if some paper and vials go with them, so be it. The environmental perspective would be focused on the amount of drugs (all of them) that were removed from potentially being in the environment, and possibly the amount of vials that could be recycled. The medical and pharmacology professions may want to know the details of exactly what was collected and why, but I don’t see a lot of interest from them to provide the staff volunteers and record keeping abilities at these collections to get this information. I suspect that if the Medicare/Medicaid folks thought about it, they would be excited (and not in a good way) about the amount of medications that are being destroyed that their funds may have paid for.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Required Information</SPAN></U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Host department: Noted on the DEA locater site<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Collection date: Set by DEA<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Collection site: Noted on the DEA locater site<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Weight collected: (specify: if this includes all packaging or if a significant amount of packaging was first removed)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Voluntary Information (note "n/a" if information not available)</SPAN></U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Approximate weight of trash and recycling removed from flow before final weight taken: Law enforcement encouraged to not handle the drugs dropped off<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Number of participants: Law enforcement are encouraged to note how many cars/participants there were<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Estimated doses of controlled substances collected: (specify how counting was done) DEA is willing to pay for incineration of whatever is collected, so the breakdown of controlled/non-controlled/recyclable drug vials/packing is moot to them<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Percent of controlled dispensed to controlled received: See above<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">By weight % of controlled received to total collected: See above<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Number of officers, staff, & volunteers helping at site: We note this in Virginia – don’t know about other states<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Inventory data None collected<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Any other data collected In Virginia, each full bag of drugs is sealed, numbered, weighed and labeled with the site information prior to being moved to the next consolidation point. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Was the DEA outreach material utilized? Like what specifically? </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <EM>They delivered 11x17" posters in Spanish and 1/3 page fliers in English & Spanish (just a few days ahead of the event.)</EM></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">DEA HQ contracts to put ads in papers and on TV nationally. The agents in each state vary with their outreach. Our agent in Virginia works with the AG’s office, school board, governors office and law enforcement professional groups to spread the word. Our environmental agency reaches out to citizen environmental groups and river keeper organizations, environmental staff, POTW staff, and other groups as I come across contacts for them. I also put a link on our agency website for the DEA collection event.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">How much money was spent on additional outreach? Spent by whom? The law enforcement who ran the site(s)? </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><EM> Anyone involved in a collection. Where the money came from is another interesting question. <o:p></o:p></EM></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Comments:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Deborah L. DeBiasi</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Virginia DEQ</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <BR></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Office of Water Permit and Compliance Assistance Programs</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR></SPAN><B><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</SPAN></B><B><I><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR></SPAN></I></B><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">PH: 804-698-4028</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> Ed Gottlieb [mailto:egottlieb@cityofithaca.org] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Monday, May 07, 2012 7:10 AM<BR><B>To:</B> DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)<BR><B>Cc:</B> Burke.Lucy@CalRecycle.ca.gov; Margaret Shield; Jennifer (MPCA) Volkman<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [Pharmwaste] DEA results and future plans<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Deborah,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From what you say it seems I should ask our state agent again if more detailed information is now available. Though the State & Federal office indicated to me that the information was not available, it does seem silly that information collected by local agents wouldn't be sent to the State and the National office.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">What I was suggesting is that we encourage the DEA to invite all participating law enforcement agencies to submit any data collected at their site in addition to the required weight collected number. The invitation could be accompanied by a form with questions like: <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Required Information</SPAN></U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Host department:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Collection date:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Collection site:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Weight collected: (specify: if this includes all packaging or if a significant amount of packaging was first removed)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Voluntary Information (note "n/a" if information not available)</SPAN></U><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Approximate weight of trash and recycling removed from flow before final weight taken:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Number of participants:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Estimated doses of controlled substances collected: (specify how counting was done)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Percent of controlled dispensed to controlled received:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">By weight % of controlled received to total collected:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Number of officers, staff, & volunteers helping at site:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Inventory data<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Any other data collected <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Was the DEA outreach material utilized?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">How much money was spent on additional outreach?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Comments:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ed<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">>>> "DeBiasi, Deborah (DEQ)" <Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov> 5/4/2012 2:20 PM >>><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099">Ed, <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> The DEA agent for your state should be able to provide the sites and pounds collected at each site. Our agent in Virginia is very forthcoming with that information, and sends it to me. Virginia had 180 sites run by 130 law enforcement agencies, and collected 16,899.2 pounds of drugs this time. That was a big increase over previous collection events. For Virginia, drugs are collected at the sites in bags which are tagged with the site name/address and rough weight, then taken to the State Police Regional Office for holding, consolidated by the DEA agents, weighed exactly and then taken to the incinerator for destruction. Our agent puts the info on a spreadsheet with the totals. Not all states have that degree of thoroughness and sharing. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"> I don’t know what you are asking here: </SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Do you think that if some of us asked the DEA to offer to accept any data a site wishes to provide at the fall collection, they would do so? We could suggest that their offer could be structured in a way that would generate comparable results. Am I wasting my time? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Deborah L. DeBiasi</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">, </SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Virginia DEQ</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> <BR></SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Office of Water Permit and Compliance Assistance Programs</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR></SPAN><B><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Email: Deborah.DeBiasi@deq.virginia.gov</SPAN></B><B><I><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><BR></SPAN></I></B><SPAN style="COLOR: navy; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">PH: 804-698-4028</SPAN><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: #000099"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">From:</SPAN></B><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt"> pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us [mailto:pharmwaste-bounces@lists.dep.state.fl.us] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Ed Gottlieb<BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, May 04, 2012 1:42 PM<BR><B>To:</B> Stevan Gressitt; pharmwaste<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Pharmwaste] DEA results and future plans<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I called the DEA Public Affairs phone number, listed on the press release Stevan sent us (below), to see if I could get more data. They only have total weights for States and DEA Regions. They can't get and didn't seem interested in any information other than this...old news, I know. The women I spoke with actually was under the impression that privacy rules would not allow them to get participation numbers. I pointed out that was not an issue since no names were being collected (let alone names linked with medications.) She provided contact information for the NY DEA Public Affairs office. </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The NY office called me back since the data was just coming in. NYS had more than 300 sites and collected 37,000 pounds of medications. When I asked for a more accurate site count she referred me to the DEA site locator. That was already taken down I told her. The NY office probably had just gotten more detail than this (maybe the totals were not done?) since she was able to tell me that the Syracuse regional office collected 5285 pounds. Not having an exact number of sites or weight count only allows a rough state average to be calculated…123#/site. I called the Syracuse office to learn that they had 34 sites (yielding a more accurate local average of 155#/site.) I presume that all sorts of data were collected at a minority of sites nationwide, especially the number of participants. Since the DEA doesn't ask for any information other than weight, they aren't given it. At this point, it would be very difficult to find the data that was collected. </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Do you think that if some of us asked the DEA to offer to accept any data a site wishes to provide at the fall collection, they would do so? </SPAN><o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">We could suggest that their offer could be structured in a way that would generate comparable results. Am I wasting my time? <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">I think the following information was already posted on the Listserv. For my own clarity, I asked the main DEA office what their plans were for future collection events. She confirmed that they are planning a fall collection since the rules for the Safe Drug Disposal Act will not be in place before then. They have no intent to hold any collections after that. Once the new rules are published in the Federal Register there will be a final comment period. The DEA may choose to make changes, based on the comments received, before they publish the final rules.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
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<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">Ed Gottlieb<BR>Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal <BR>Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator <BR>Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility<BR>525 3rd Street<BR>Ithaca, NY 14850<BR>(607) 273-8381<BR>fax: (607) 273-8433<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><BR>>>> Stevan Gressitt <gressitt@gmail.com> 5/3/2012 6:28 PM >>><BR><A href="http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr050312p.html">http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr050312p.html</A> <BR clear=all><o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">-- <BR>Stevan Gressitt, M.D., D.F.A.P.A.<BR>Faculty Associate, University of Maine Center on Aging<BR>Academic Member, Athens Institute for Education and Research<BR>Athens, Greece<BR>Founding Director, International Institute for Pharmaceutical Safety<BR>University of New England, College of Pharmacy<BR>Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences<BR>Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry<BR>University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine<BR>314 Clark Road<BR>Unity, Maine, 04988<BR><A href="mailto:gressitt@gmail.com" target=_blank>gressitt@gmail.com</A> <BR>Cell: 207-441-0291<BR><A href="http://www.benzos.une.edu/" target=_blank>www.benzos.une.edu</A><BR><A href="http://www.safemeddisposal.com/" target=_blank>www.safemeddisposal.com</A></SPAN><o:p></o:p></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>