SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 23

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Michael Padilla

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG MISUSE AND OVERDOSE PREVENTION AND PAIN MANAGEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL TO CONVENE A WORKING GROUP OF STAKEHOLDERS TO ANALYZE AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO THE STATE'S OPTIONS FOR ESTABLISHING AN UNUSED PRESCRIPTION DRUG RECOVERY PROGRAM.

     WHEREAS, the federal centers for disease control and prevention reports that drug overdose was the leading cause of injury death in 2012; and

     WHEREAS, the drug overdose death rate more than doubled from 1999 through 2013; and

     WHEREAS, according to a 2013 report by the trust for America's health, New Mexico in 2013 had the second-highest drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, with twenty-three and eight-tenths per one hundred thousand people dying from drug overdose; and

     WHEREAS, the federal centers for disease control and prevention reports that of the twenty-two thousand seven hundred sixty-seven deaths relating to pharmaceutical overdose in 2013, sixteen thousand two hundred thirty-five, or seventy-one and three-tenths percent, of these deaths involved opioid analgesics, also called opioid pain relievers or prescription painkillers, and six thousand nine hundred seventy-three, or thirty and six-tenths percent, of these deaths involved benzodiazepines, with some deaths involving more than one type of drug; and

     WHEREAS, in 2011, drug misuse and abuse caused about two million five hundred thousand emergency department visits, and of these, more than one million four hundred thousand emergency department visits were related to pharmaceuticals; and

     WHEREAS, the foundation for a drug-free world reports that every day in the United States, two thousand five hundred youths ages twelve to seventeen abuse a prescription pain reliever for the first time; and

     WHEREAS, the federal centers for disease control and prevention reports that, among children under age six, pharmaceuticals account for about forty percent of all exposures reported to poison centers; and

     WHEREAS, the United States drug enforcement administration reports that seventy percent of youths get their prescription drugs through family and friends from sources such as unsecured medicine cabinets, yet few parents report safeguarding prescription medications; and

     WHEREAS, the United States drug enforcement administration reports that once prescription drugs are dispensed, they are frequently diverted to people who use them without a prescription; and 

     WHEREAS, according to the 2010 national survey on drug use and health, very few prescription drugs involved in overdoses were obtained via pharmacy theft, indicating that the great majority of prescription drugs involved in overdoses were obtained by prescription fills; and

     WHEREAS, more than three out of four people who misuse prescription painkillers use drugs that were prescribed to someone else; and

     WHEREAS, the United States drug enforcement administration has implemented a national take-back initiative, whose "national prescription drug take-back days" provide a venue for people who want to dispose of unwanted and unused prescription drugs, yet these national take-back days are held infrequently and are difficult to access for people in rural and frontier areas; and

     WHEREAS, as of October 9, 2014, the United States drug enforcement administration has issued regulations allowing authorized manufacturers, distributors, reverse distributors, narcotic treatment programs, hospitals and clinics with an on-site pharmacy and retail pharmacies to collect pharmaceutical controlled substances from the individuals for whom they were prescribed by voluntarily administering mail-back programs and maintaining collection receptacles; and

     WHEREAS, the new United States drug enforcement administration regulations have expanded the entities to which people who have been prescribed prescription drugs that they have not used may transfer unused, unwanted or expired pharmaceutical controlled substances for the purpose of disposal, as well as the methods by which pharmaceutical controlled substances may be collected, allowing specified entities to voluntarily administer any of the authorized collection methods in accordance with these regulations; and

     WHEREAS, while new federal law allows greater opportunity for drug disposal, there are risks and expenses for the entities that elect to receive unused drugs;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the prescription drug misuse and overdose prevention and pain management advisory council be requested to convene a prescription drug recovery task force to study the opportunities and challenges that the new federal regulations afford for local unused prescription drug recovery to remove the threat that unused prescription drugs will end up in the wrong hands; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the prescription drug misuse and overdose prevention and pain management advisory council be requested to invite to participate in the prescription drug recovery task force as wide a group of stakeholders as possible, including representatives from the board of pharmacy, the department of health, the New Mexico pharmacists association, retail pharmacies, hospital and clinical pharmacies, law enforcement, substance use treatment programs, health care providers, the drug policy alliance, drug manufacturers and others whom the board of pharmacy deems to have expertise in addressing the opportunities and challenges; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the prescription drug recovery task force be requested to meet during the 2015 interim and, by November 1, 2015, compile a report of its recommendations for presentation to the governor and the legislative health and human services committee; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor; the chair and vice chair of the legislative health and human services committee; the chair of the prescription drug misuse and overdose prevention and pain management advisory council; the chair of the board of pharmacy; the secretary of health; the secretary of public safety; the executive directors of the New Mexico pharmacists association, the New Mexico hospital association, the New Mexico primary care association, the drug policy alliance, the New Mexico medical society, the New Mexico osteopathic medical association and the New Mexico nurses association; and the chair and chief executive officer of the pharmaceutical research and manufacturers of America.

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