Washington » Congress should pass legislation to help consumers dispose of pharmaceutical drugs to curb a growing trend of prescription abuse, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has urged a U.S. House subcommittee.
Shurtleff, noting that Utah leads the nation in painkiller abuse, flew to Washington to testify, offering as a model the Utah Pharmaceutical Drug Crime Program, a task force established to combat the trend.
But Shurtleff, a Republican who recently announced he will challenge Sen. Bob Bennett next year, did not end up testifying in person after the House Judiciary panel shelved the hearing because of a flurry of floor votes. Shurtleff did meet with the subcommittee's chairman, Robert Scott, D-Va., and ranking Republican, Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas. And his written comments were submitted for the official record.
After the hearing was scrapped, Shurtleff said he is optimistic Congress will pass legislation that would allow health-care providers, patients and long-term care facilities to take unused or expired drugs to a pharmacy for incineration.
Currently, federal law bars individuals and long-term facilities from returning those kinds of drugs, and Shurtleff says throwing them into the trash creates other problems, as does flushing them down the toilet.
"People don't have an answer right now. I can't flush them, I'm not supposed to throw them out, so what do I do with them?" Shurtleff asked. "The bottom line right now, is don't flush, but what do you do?"
Shurtleff said he took a personal interest in this after his wife flushed some of his own medication from a leg surgery because she wasn't sure what to do with them.
Shurtleff held no fundraisers in Washington, he said, although he did meet briefly with Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. He did not meet with Bennett.
