It Worked Real Good With Guns. So...

...lets see if we can get people to turn in their unused prescription medicine too.

My little town in the midwest, is hosting an unused prescription "turn-in" day at the local hospital. There will even be police, and a DEA agent there to welcome you with open arms, and to make sure the drugs turned in stay connected in name to the person returning them. Isn't that sweet of them? (Where's my puke emoticon!)

Seriously. Has anyone else heard of this? I have questions!

Do we really need local police, and a DEA agent there?
Do the drugs turned in really need to be recorded, and linked to the person turning them in?
What happened to the no questions asked scenario, like they did with the guns?
Are they planning on re-dispensing these drugs through the hospital?
Or maybe they're going in the back door of the local pharmacies, to be re-distributed that way?

I know. It's all above board and innocent. And they just want to get these drugs off the street, and away from children, who might get them from the medicine cabinet at home. Sure. I believe that. And so do you. Right?

reply to post by Klassified


This might be the most assanine event I ever heard of... Wait... No, I digress...

I will bring to light that many medical offices and chiropractic offices alike already have a jar on there receptionist desk for unused prescription drugs.... Thus eliminating this event from ever taking fruition... Just more hard earned tax dollars at work...

reply to post by Klassified



Yep.. happening here too.

health.co.st-clair.il.us...

reply to post by Klassified

Do the drugs turned in really need to be recorded, and linked to the person turning them in?

If they are prescribed then they are already recorded and this could be a little info gathering to see how many prescribed drugs are handed in by people who the drugs were never prescribed for.

Not to lay any legal charges or anything just to have the info of how much it gets circulated after its prescribed.

reply to post by Klassified


I can see it now, this will nip America's Percocet addition in the butt. No wait, I meant the opposite of that, do nothing or change nothing what so ever.

I wonder (and this is easily tested) if you removed your name from the bottle label, keeping the content and dosage info intact, would they still take them? After all if "it's for the children" then it should not matter what name is on the bottle....right? They will be off the street and no harm to anyone.

Doing this, we can determine if the true purpose is revealed as a covert opportunity to track drug prescription possession and usage among he local population. Otherwise they would need to go through tons of legal paperwork to get that info, this way, you are OFFERING IT to them and granting the right to catalog and process it without any legal ramifications with HIPAA.

Then we can have a real conspiracy talk at that point. OP, are you willing to try this out locally since you said it is going on there right now?

InhaleExhale
reply to post by Klassified

 

Do the drugs turned in really need to be recorded, and linked to the person turning them in?

If they are prescribed then they are already recorded and this could be a little info gathering to see how many prescribed drugs are handed in by people who the drugs were never prescribed for.

Not to lay any legal charges or anything just to have the info of how much it gets circulated after its prescribed.

edit on 9-10-2013 by InhaleExhale because: (no reason given)

Yes, this is logged and also PROTECTED from unauthorized access/use via existing laws under HIPAA. However, to gather this info they would need a TON of paperwork and approvals to get it, right? This way, they side-step all that nasty legal red-tape since you are VOLUNTEERING the information, it is you granting permission for them to collect and process this data.

After all, "it's or the children"....so if you are against it, you MUST be for killing children with drug overdoses...right?

Do we really need local police, and a DEA agent there?

In a word? Yes. Scary isn't it??

I have to admit it wasn't until very recently that I got to checking what some of my wife's old pain meds were worth on the street. She was cut off after the 1st of the year with millions of others in the new push to curb abuse ...with long term perscription going along with it.

Did you know the Oxy pills are worth up to $1 a miligram?? that would be $30+ each pill! I was flabbergasted. Given that, we had (at one time) a cardboard box of old pill bottles I'd roughly guess was $10,000 or more! I mean, it was just leftovers from years accumulated and we dumped it for dates and such ...but the value blew my mind and cooked my noodle. *NOW* I understand a bit why her doctors looked at her how they did. neither of us got it then. We didn't realize some of those single prescriptions we thought little of as a part of her daily life ...would have bought us a new car if we were crminally minded.

Now form a collection point where dozens to hundreds of bottles of those ..at those values..will be sitting with nothing but nurses and security guards to stop someone from getting far richer than any bank robbery would give.

I'm surprised they only had what they did?

reply to post by Klassified


Haven't heard of this. Maybe I'm a bit dumb but what's sinister about this?
Unused prescription meds in circulation *could* be a bad idea, and they are obviously going to have feds there if people are bringing all kinds of drugs to one place.

Vasteel
reply to post by Klassified

 

Haven't heard of this. Maybe I'm a bit dumb but what's sinister about this?
Unused prescription meds in circulation *could* be a bad idea, and they are obviously going to have feds there if people are bringing all kinds of drugs to one place.

They are the go to drugs for teenagers now. Gramdmas medcine closet is better than the local drug dealer and its free.

I'm waiting for them to ask for books to be turned in for destruction.

Not kidding.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I actually did know about this as I have friends (mod note: not me, I don't like them at all) who do percocets on the regular much to my chagrin. This is also why this mass turn-in won't work. You can make too much money off of selling the ones you don't use.

I don't see anything evil about this as wrabbit had said the street value alone is tempting for anyone to try and steal some and sell it on the streets.

I also think the DEA needs to watch the doctors that are passing these out like candy these pain killers are very dangerous.

My doctor tries to give me a script every month but I refuse them not because I have no pain I have extreme pain all the time but I do not like what they turn you into, I was on them for One year and one morning I decided not to take them any more and let me tell you the next two weeks were hell on me and my poor wife I would not wish that pain on anyone.

Most likely the DEA agents are there because they anticipate narcotics being turned in. These drugs have to be disposed of in prescribed ways in hospitals. The fact that a hospital is hosting the event explains the excessive, it looks to an outsider, use of police and DEA. To dispose of a drug in a hospital requires two witnesses, both licensed. Hospitals take narcotics very seriously. I don't see anything sinister here.

thesaneone
I don't see anything evil about this as wrabbit had said the street value alone is tempting for anyone to try and steal some and sell it on the streets.

I also think the DEA needs to watch the doctors that are passing these out like candy these pain killers are very dangerous.

My doctor tries to give me a script every month but I refuse them not because I have no pain I have extreme pain all the time but I do not like what they turn you into, I was on them for One year and one morning I decided not to take them any more and let me tell you the next two weeks were hell on me and my poor wife I would not wish that pain on anyone.

I was off of ATS for a while walking my fam member through a medically assisted detox AND having a life. Id not wish that hellish detox on anyone. He's back in Montana now with family. Good thing he isnt here for temptation, I get narcotics pushed on me from my Dr every major injury I have.. and I just had one. LOL!

Ditto to a lot of what you said. My pain mgmt dr tries to give me vicodin and dilaudid for everything. I prefer burning nerves and some traditional pain management methods. I just never really felt there was enough of a pro to balance out the cons when getting the narcotics. For me.. not only do they not work adequately.. the side effects are crappy... and Im sorta attached to my liver and would like to keep it functioning properly for a while longer. Its weird how they will push them on some folks and refuse them for others. Every time I go in ( now especially after this ACL tear/ reconstruction) they literally try to talk me into it. Weird. Ive taken 3 whole pills out of this RX just to see if it would help with the post reconstruction pain.. not enough to justify the side effects once again. Ice, Ice, Ibuprofin, and my iceman machine are my Gods now. Im not turning the narcs in... Ill save them for the zombie apocalype and trade them for twinkies and shotgun shells.

In all seriousness..Id love to see some other pain management medication or method researched more heavily because although Drs think the "codones" are so great.. they dont treat REAL pain for anything. Ive been puking and passing out due to pain.. and they give morphine. Thats always first line it seems. WTF?! So people like me.. you get no pain relief from the "codones" and "ines" and youre puking, passing out... and itching intensely (which drives you literally out of your mind and makes you a violent monkey).

Advantage
reply to post by Klassified

 

Yep.. happening here too.

health.co.st-clair.il.us...

At least this makes some amount of sense. Although I'm sure they could filter it from the water if they wanted to. But it would probably cost more.

reply to post by InhaleExhale

OK. I can see that. Although I'm betting they're hoping to make an arrest.

reply to post by Krakatoa

They have already said, whatever is turned in will remain connected to that person by name in records. So removing the label will do little good it seems.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000

Ahhh Wrabbit. I can always count on you to think of things others don't. OK. I don't have a problem giving them some legitimacy. But for every bit of legitimacy I give them, they always have reasons above and beyond, that are not legitimate. As if those who know the value of having a backstock of prescription meds, are going to turn them in anyway. Thanks for the different angle.

reply to post by Iamschist

I'm glad to know I'm just cynical, and our public servants would never have an ulterior motive for an exercise such as this. That makes me feel better. Sort of.

reply to post by Krazysh0t


Very true for anyone who would turn criminal with them. I have to note something important on it thou. Studies have shown antibiotic presence in our creeks, rivers and lakes as well as elsewhere in the environment. How? Well... What goes in must come out ....but more importantly is what I had done. Dumping that box of old meds (in the trash for me) put them into the environment and if I flushed them like many people think is good? Well, straight into the environment it goes..

At least at a turn in, we assume they have a proper way of disposal in mind so we don't all keep ingesting trace amounts of everything, to train all the bugs how to defend against them.

It does something positive, anyway...right?

reply to post by Klassified


They do that in some places up here. Though to my knowledge they don't attach each med to an individual. I think it became popular enough in the mat su valley that the police station just installed a locked drop box out front, rather than having the gatherings to take care of it, there was that much need. I guess it depends on where you are, but the drug problems were getting so out of hand that there were regular robberies taking place just to get people's prescription meds.

I don't understand the lack of anonymity though, they should be happy just to get the pills off the streets. Shouldn't they be happy even if it is an addict with someone else's pills, as long as they want off of them?

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I say this on behalf of my husband. Never flush your meds!!

Into the trash is better, but even then they can leach out from the dump.
Incineration is the best way to deal with them.

reply to post by woodsmom

I don't understand the lack of anonymity though, they should be happy just to get the pills off the streets. Shouldn't they be happy even if it is an addict with someone else's pills, as long as they want off of them?

This was exactly a part of my point.

I can see the need for proper disposal. This at least makes sense, and is a legitimate reason. But having people turn in their unused meds isn't going to stop those that want to keep them, sell them, or rob people for them, from doing so.

Call me cynical, or even crazy, folks. But I think our "officials" and "authorities" have proven multiple times over, they do nothing for the benefit of the public, except as a cover. They are not altruistic, and they always have an ulterior motive.