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Candidates
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Rhoades leads fight to get narcotics out of the toilet By Doug Stohlberg, Hudson Star-Observer, Editor
Flushing money down a toilet may sound like a figurative statement, but according to State Rep. Kitty Rhoades, $25.9 million worth of prescription narcotic drugs are flushed down the toilet at nursing homes and hospice care facilities in Wisconsin each year.
An even bigger problem is that the amount of narcotics being flushed down toilets is showing up in ground water across Wisconsin and the nation.
“The sad thing is that these drugs are now distributed in tamper proof packs and could easily be returned to a pharmacy for redistribution,” Rhoades said.
Of course, the problem is even bigger when you consider drug disposal in private homes across the country, but Rhoades said drugs should be available for return in facilities where the delivery of drugs is done by a staff and can be monitored.
“When I first discovered this issue in Wisconsin, I asked an area nursing home to keep track of the drugs flushed down the toilet in a two-month period,” Rhoades said. “I was shocked to see the dollar figure at $10,787.59.”
She said that if you take that number and multiply it times the number of nursing homes in Wisconsin and stretch it out for a year, the total is $25.9 million.
“Many patients in nursing homes and/or hospice are on Medical Assistance,” Rhoades said. “That means that taxpayers are paying for this waste.”
Aside from the financial impact, narcotics cannot be filtered from ground water.
“We have an opportunity here for a lot of different parties to work together. Health care providers, environmentalists, the government and drug manufacturers should all be on the same page.”
She acknowledged that drug manufacturers may be the hardest to convince that a change in the law is beneficial.
“On the other hand, it would be a PR nightmare if they fought the recycling of narcotics,” Rhoades said. “There are a lot of benefits, including lower health care costs and cleaner water.”
Rhoades made her presentation at the meeting of the Thursday Noon Rotary Club. Teaming with Rhoades at the presentation was Christian Community Home Director Dan Goodier.
He said non-narcotics drugs are already able to be returned, and he thinks narcotics should be in the same category.
“Returning narcotics that come in the blister packs is very sanitary,” Goodier said. “The medicine we distribute is closely regulated and units are punched out one dose at a time.”
He said drugs often come in 30-, 60-, 90- or 120-day supplies. Many of the narcotics are used as pain treatment in hospice situations and it is common to have drugs left over.
“Under current law, our most efficient way to get rid of them is to flush them down the toilet.”
He said the process involves two nurse witnesses and two nurses signing a document.
He said narcotics make up only about 5 percent of all drugs used at the nursing home. However, because other drugs can be returned, it is the narcotics that create the waste problem. He said the DEA has a complicated, and expensive, disposal process for large amounts of narcotics. Most nursing homes follow the DEA guidelines that allow smaller amounts to be flushed down the toilet. Goodier said few, if any, long-term care facilities use the DEA process for disposing large amounts of narcotics. It requires DEA staff members to visit the nursing home facility. He questions whether the agency even has the manpower to implement the procedures.
Rhoades said the DEA claims it is too dangerous to return narcotics.
“Given the blister pack technology, I don’t believe it,” Rhoades said. |
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That’s because the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency will not allow the return of narcotics, or controlled substances.
