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Oregon to seek bids on drug recycling kiosks to fight opiod epidemic

April 12, 2017

A divided Oregon house health committee passed a bill to make it easier for people to dispose of excess medications in an effort to curtail the opioid epidemic and to prevent drugs from contaminating the environment, according to The Lund Report.

House Bill 2645 directs the department of environmental quality to solicit bids for a program manager who will implement a network of drug take-back kiosks across the state and educate the public about their existence. The program would be paid for by fees garnered from pharmaceutical manufacturers.

"The number one thing is prevention," said Rep. Sheri Malstrom, D-Beaverton. "The real thing is we need to be tough and get as many of these pills out of general circulation. There are too many pills out there."

According to the Oregon Coalition for the Responsible Use of Meds, almost 300 million opioid pills are prescribed each year in Oregon – 70 pills for every man, woman and child. About a third of those pills are not even used, and 40 percent of teenagers who report abusing prescription drugs cite their parents' pilfered medicine cabinet as a source.