<html dir="ltr">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
<style id="owaParaStyle">P {
MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN-TOP: 0px
}
</style>
</head>
<body fPStyle="1" ocsi="0">
<div style="direction: ltr;font-family: Tahoma;color: #000000;font-size: 10pt;">
<div>
<p>You may recall a post on 2/15 regarding a HI take-back bill.</p>
<p>The good news update, passed on from a colleague in HI, is that the House version (HB 2125) is dead.</p>
<p>The Senate version is still active <font color="#0563c1"><u>SB 2339.</u></font><font color="#000000"> They, and I, don't know what this means for the chances of it moving forward. This is the bill, in it's entirety:</font></p>
<blockquote style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir="ltr">
<p><span id="ContentPlaceHolderCol1_ListView1_descriptionLabel_0">Authorizes pharmacies to accept for disposal the return of any unused, remaining, or expired prescription drugs, excluding opioids, that the pharmacy previously dispensed, via collection receptacles
or mail-back programs. </span> </p>
</blockquote>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">
<span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN">Again, here is my testimony (sadly missing positive feedback for wanting to address the issue) submitted
to the Senate committee considering the bill:</span></p>
<blockquote style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px" dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">
<span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN">U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) rules forbid pharmacy staff from touching previously dispensed
medications when assisting a person who has come to drop-off unwanted medications. Staff can look at what a person has, and let them know what can and can’t be deposited in a take-back kiosk. In existing pharmacy take-back programs, a pharmacist rarely interacts
with a person doing drop-off. It typically happens only if that person has a question regarding if particular item can be deposited.
<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">
<span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN">With SB2339:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">
<span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN">1. Every person doing drop-off would need to wait for pharmacy staff to be free to review their items.
They would have to dump what they have on a counter, or otherwise display, their unwanted medications for staff to identify, without touching any of it, which came from that pharmacy. Sometimes shopping bags full of unwanted medications are brought in<b>.
It would take an inordinate amount of time, for both the customer and staff, to review the medications that arrive.
</b><br>
2.<b> </b>To insure that review happens, the kiosk would have to be put behind the counter, where space is at a premium.<br>
3. There is no way to know if what is in a bottle is actually the unwanted portion of what was dispensed in that bottle.<br>
4. What should done when a person says a zip-lock bag full of pills came from that pharmacy?
</span></p>
<p></p>
<span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language: EN">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333"><font face="Tahoma">Please consider introducing take-back legislation that provides free, convenient
take-back opportunities for both prescription and over-the-counter medications (both human and veterinary) for all residents and, which is paid for by the manufacturers of these drugs. For a take-back program to be a success, a robust outreach program is
necessary. For a model, refer to the most recent pharmaceutical take-back, extended producer responsibility laws past or pending in this country. The Washington State bill, that recently passed their Assembly, is a particularly good model for your consideration.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333"><font face="Tahoma">As a first step, HI needs to change its rules to allow the DEA rule, permitting
authorized collection, to proceed.<span> </span>Almost every other state now permits pharmacies to register with the DEA and do take-back.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 8pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><span lang="EN" style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial",sans-serif; COLOR: #333333"><font face="Tahoma">Regards,</font></span></p>
</blockquote>
</span>
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><font size="+0"><span lang="en-US">
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><font size="2"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; COLOR: black">Ed Gottlieb
<br>
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal<br>
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council<br>
Member, National Association of Clean Water Agencies Pretreatment & Pollution Prevention Committee<br>
Member, Product Stewardship Institute Pharmaceuticals’ Policy & Coordination Work Group <br>
Member, New York Water Environment Association Government Affairs Committee<br>
Member, Tompkins County Water Resources Council<br>
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator<br>
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility<br>
525 3<sup>rd</sup> Street<br>
Ithaca, NY 14850<br>
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; COLOR: blue"><a href="tel:(607)%20273-8381" target="_blank"><font color="#0000ff">(607) 273-8381</font></a><br>
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; COLOR: black">fax:
<a href="tel:(607)%20273-8433" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,102,204)">(607) 273-8433</span></a></span></font></div>
<font size="2"></font>
<div style="FONT-SIZE: 13px; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma"><font size="2"></font> </div>
</span></font></div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>