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<b style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">The Positive Impact of a North Carolina State-Wide Medicine Disposal Initiative on the DEA National Take-Back Day Program</b><br>
<b style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Authors: Thomas Alfieri, Ph.D., Fred Wells Brason II, Tracy Mayne, Ph.D.</b></p>
<p style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); FONT-STYLE: normal; MARGIN: 0px 0px 1.5em; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(254,254,254); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial">
Purdue Pharma collaborated with Project Lazarus, a non-profit organization established to decrease opioid-related overdose deaths and promote appropriate care for pain patients, to create the North Carolina Disposal Initiative (NCDI). Drug take-back programs
are designed to provide safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, to decrease accidental ingestion, abuse, and diversion. The goals of the NCDI are to help community-based organizations conduct drug take-back programs, increase
utilization of medicine drop boxes across North Carolina, assess the effectiveness of such initiatives to remove prescription medicine from circulation, and gauge their impact on public health outcomes such as opioid overdose deaths, hospitalizations, and
calls to poison control centers.</p>
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<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; FLOAT: none; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); FONT-STYLE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; DISPLAY: inline !important; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(254,254,254); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial">“This
program is an example of how centralized interventions involving government health departments, community-based coalitions, and industry have the potential to reduce the amount of medication in circulation,” said Fred Wells Brason II, President and Chief Executive
Officer, Project Lazarus. “The DEA nationwide numbers also show North Carolina collected an average of 440 pounds of medicines per site in April 2017, which was second-highest rate across the US. Additional research and analyses to quantify the proportion
of opioids collected and to assess the impact of disposal initiatives on public health outcomes are ongoing.”</span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; FLOAT: none; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); FONT-STYLE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; DISPLAY: inline !important; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(254,254,254); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial"></span> </p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 14px; FONT-FAMILY: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Lucida Grande", sans-serif; WHITE-SPACE: normal; WORD-SPACING: 0px; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; FLOAT: none; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: rgb(68,68,68); FONT-STYLE: normal; ORPHANS: 2; WIDOWS: 2; DISPLAY: inline !important; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BACKGROUND-COLOR: rgb(254,254,254); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial"><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170906005319/en/Purdue-Pharma-L.P.-Present-Data-Research-Studies">http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170906005319/en/Purdue-Pharma-L.P.-Present-Data-Research-Studies</a></span></p>
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<div style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><font size="+0"><span lang="en-US">
<div><font size="2">Ed Gottlieb<br>
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal<br>
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council<br>
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<div><font size="2">Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility</font><br>
<font size="2">525 3</font><sup>rd</sup><font size="2"> Street</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">Ithaca, NY 14850</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">(607) 273-8381</font></div>
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<div><font size="2">fax: (607) 273-8433</font></div>
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