Pharmaceutical companies lobby against proposed bill

Stanwood Police Station and Bartell Drugs both have locked drop boxes for unused or unwanted medications. PHOTO BY JEREMIAH O’HAGAN | STANWOOD/CAMANO NEWS If a small group of people have their way, the pharmaceutical industry will soon go the way of the electronic industry: prescription drug companies will adopt a stewardship program, in which manufacturers are responsible for the disposal of unused medication.

And it is a small group indeed. Four lobbyists are fighting to put a bill through the Senate that will establish a statewide drug take-back program, to be funded by the pharmaceutical industry. They estimate it will cost about 2 cents per prescription, and the bill caps the program’s cost at $2.5 million annually. Pharmaceutical companies are fighting back with 27 lobbyists and an enormous bankroll.

Snohomish County is currently one of 17 counties in the state with some kind of drug take-back program, also known as “secure medicine disposal.”

Years ago, the public was advised to flush unused pills down the toilet. Later, it was told to mix pills with kitty litter or coffee grounds and put the whole mess in the trash, which eventually ends up in a landfill.

Both these methods are flawed and potentially allow drugs to leach into groundwater, drinking water and natural resources.

Incineration is the most effective method of disposal. Snohomish and 16 other counties already have a good program in place, wherein unused medicine is collected at police stations and Bartell Drugs locations. The medications are then sent to Spokane and destroyed in a municipal solid waste incinerator.

Jonelle Fenton-Wallace, environmental health specialist with Snohomish Regional Drug Task Force (SRDTF), said the program is funded by a grant from the Department of Ecology. Budget cuts are threatening, though; so far, no funds have been secured for 2012 and the drug task force has lost 11 positions.

The proposed legislation outlines a sustainable way to continue funding the program while expanding it across the state.

“We need 25 votes to move the bill to the House,” Fenton-Wallace said.

The bill was also introduced at the last two sessions, and fell one vote short of passing last year.

Stanwood Police Department and Bartell Drugs in Stanwood both participate in the current program. Both locations have doublelocked drop boxes. The drug task force keeps one key, and someone at each location keeps the other.

Stanwood Police Chief Ty Trenary said people come in at least once a day to use the station’s drop box. Last year, Stanwood joined other cities throughout the county to collect a total of 4,530 pounds of unused medication.

“(Drug take back) is an awesome program for the community,” Trenary said. “It’s incredibly important to keep prescription drugs out of the environment and water supply, and off the streets, too.”

“This program is one of the most efficient things government has done in a long time,” he added. “I absolutely want it to continue.”

Dr. Gary Goldbaum, with Snohomish County Health District, said unused prescription drugs pose an important public health issue that has been overlooked in the past.

Trace amounts of the drugs already end up in wastewater as they pass through people’s systems, he said. This is unavoidable.

With that in mind, “we will be better off if we don’t add to the burden of these drugs in the environment,” Goldbaum said.

Another key point is this: Data collected since 2004 shows that poisoning has exceeded motor vehicle accidents as the leading cause of death in Snohomish County, Goldbaum said.

“Poisoning” is a polite way of saying overdose. Most often, prescription drugs are the cause.

“Fewer illicit drugs cause death,” Goldbaum said.

“We need to provide a mechanism to assure that unused drugs — and there will always be unused drugs — can be disposed of properly,” he concluded.

Commander Pat Slack, also with SRDTF, said pharmaceutical companies in British Columbia, Canada, (B.C.) and Europe have been funding take-back programs for years.

He cited B.C. as an example of how well the program could work in Washington state.

B.C.’s population is 4.75 million, Slack said, compared with Washington’s 6.5 million, so it’s a rough comparison. In 2010, the province collected 51 metric tons (112,436 pounds) of unused prescription drugs for a total cost less than $400,000.

That’s 51 metric tons of medication that didn’t end up down toilets, in a landfill or polluting lakes, rivers, stream and oceans.

In Washington, the estimated start-up cost of a statewide program is $851,372. The ongoing annual cost is estimated at $526,615.

“It seems like such a nobrainer,” Slack said.

Not only are those drugs kept out of the environment, but also it “takes one element out of the drug addiction problem,” he said.

Nevertheless, Slack said, “Some legislators want a smoking gun” — proof that excess prescription drugs lead to addictions.

The dots can’t be connected with evidence, Slack said; instead, “this is about common sense.”

Slack suspects part of the resistance, oddly, comes from the fact that the program is so common.

“If we were going to put (the drugs) in a giant marshmallow and send it to the moon, people would be interested, because, ‘whoa, that’s weird.’ But when it’s just common sense, they shrug.”

Fenton-Wallace, Slack and Goldbaum urge Snohomish County residents to phone and encourage their senators to vote in favor of a statewide drug take-back program. More information can be found at www.snoco.org (search “pharmaceuticals”), or by contacting Fenton-Wallace at 360-657-1318 or jfw@snoco.org.

Staff Reporter Jeremiah O’Hagan: 629-8066 ext. 125 or ohagan@scnews.com.