DEA’s Takeback Initiative Coincides with Quest Survey Highlighting Misuse of Prescription Drugs

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s latest National Take-Back Initiative happens this month on Oct. 22, when the public is encouraged to bring unused prescription medications to collection centers throughout the nation. The last Take-Back event, held in May 2016, yielded the return of more unused prescriptions than at any of the prior 10 events since the initiative started in 2010. This initiative and other law enforcement efforts throughout the nation highlight the fight against an epidemic of drug abuse.

Adding data to support the already heightened concern and attention to curbing such abuse, Quest Diagnostics recently released a survey revealing the majority of Americans who take prescription drugs are misusing them. Quest, like many laboratories, has an extensive drug monitoring and compliance business. The New Jersey-based company analyzed 3.143 million de-identified test results over several years from 49 states and the District of Columbia to determine the particular issues challenging this patient population.

The results from the drug survey were sobering: 54 percent of patients misused their drugs in one way or another last year. That’s up from 53 percent in 2014, although down from 63 percent in Quest’s 2011 survey. The 18-24 age group was the likeliest to have an issue of misuse, although 46 percent of those over the age of 65 also had issues. Medicaid enrollees were the likeliest to have compliance issues, but the rates among enrollees in private plans and Medicare were also relatively high. For further discussion of the report, see “Quest Says Many Americans are Misusing or Abusing Prescription Drugs,” in the September 22, 2016 issue of Laboratory Industry Report.

The Quest report and the DEA’s Takeback Initiative come as many parts of America are battling an epidemic of abuse involving prescription opioid painkillers. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of overdose deaths from prescription opioids has quadrupled since 1999, totaling about 165,000 by 2014. About 1,000 people are treated in hospital emergency departments every day for the abuse of prescription painkillers. Earlier this year, the CDC issued recommendations about when to prescribe opiate painkillers.

For more information about the DEA’s Take-Back Initiative, see the DEA website.