Senator Brown weighs in on drug abuse issue
Portsmouth Daily Times – Sen. Sherrod Brown has offered some insights into the prescription drug problem facing Ohio, and what should and could be done on the federal level.
“Prescription drug abuse in Ohio needs to be treated like the epidemic it is,” Brown said.
Brown said April 29 that communities across Ohio and the United States hosted prescription take-back days, which allowed people to turn in expired or unwanted prescriptions for proper disposal.
Locally, the Lawrence-Scioto County Solid Waste Management District in cooperation with Southern Ohio Medical Center, hosted a pharmaceutical collection event.
“Too many addicts can get prescription drugs from the family medicine cabinet or from friends who no longer use the medicine they were prescribed. Prescription pain medications, such as oxycodone, morphine and methadone — which are largely responsible for increasing numbers of overdoses and deaths in Ohio — can be disposed of safely,” Brown said. “That’s why I’ve co-sponsored legislation to ensure safe prescription drug disposal. The Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act that I introduced would reduce the likelihood of prescription pills ending up in the wrong hands or in the environment. This bill would allow consumers and patients to give controlled substances to designated officials — such as law enforcement or pharmacists — for safe disposal. It would also allow caregivers and long-term care facilities to deliver unused drugs for safe disposal by expanding existing drug take-back programs.”
