IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aph/ajpbhl/10.2105-ajph.2014.302207_1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Inside Maine's medicine cabinet: Findings from the Drug Enforcement Administration's medication take-back events

Author

Listed:
  • Stewart, H.
  • Malinowski, A.
  • Ochs, L.
  • Jaramillo, J.
  • McCall, K., III
  • Sullivan, M.

Abstract

Objectives: We evaluated the quantity and type of medications obtained in unused-medications return programs and the proportion of medication waste. Methods: We analyzed data collected in 11 Maine cities in 2011 to 2013 during 6 Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) national medication take-back events. Pharmacy doctoral student volunteers collected data under the supervision of law enforcement, independent of the DEA. Data entry into the Pharmaceutical Collection Monitoring System, through its interface with Micromedex, allowed for analysis ofmedication classification, controlled substance category, therapeutic class, and percentage of medication waste (units returned/units dispensed). Results: Medication take-back events resulted in return of 13 599 individual medications from1049 participants. We cataloged 553 019 units (capsules, tablets, milliliters, patches, or grams), representing 69.7% medication waste. Noncontrolled prescriptionmedications accounted for 56.4%of returns, followed by overthecounter medications (31.4%) and controlled prescription medications (9.1%). Conclusions: The significant quantities of medications, including controlled substances, returned and high degree of medication waste emphasize the need for medication collection programs to further public health research and improve health in our communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Stewart, H. & Malinowski, A. & Ochs, L. & Jaramillo, J. & McCall, K., III & Sullivan, M., 2015. "Inside Maine's medicine cabinet: Findings from the Drug Enforcement Administration's medication take-back events," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(1), pages 65-71.
    • Handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302207_1
    DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2014.302207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hasan, Md Mahmudul & Faiz, Tasnim Ibn & Modestino, Alicia Sasser & Young, Gary J. & Noor-E-Alam, Md, 2023. "Optimizing return and secure disposal of prescription opioids to reduce the diversion to secondary users and black market," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    2. Monica Hubbard & Luke Fowler, 2021. "Institutional Collective Action on Drugs: Functional and Vertical Dilemmas of Unused Pharmaceuticals," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 38(1), pages 76-96, January.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aph:ajpbhl:10.2105/ajph.2014.302207_1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christopher F Baum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.apha.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.