One in 10 Americans have offered unused
opioids to family and friends; more than one in four have flushed
unused prescription drugs down the drain/toilet
LAKE FOREST, IL, April 22, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Despite that a
majority of Americans (75%) believe that people sharing or selling
their unused prescriptions, including opioids (e.g., oxycodone,
hydrocodone, morphine) is contributing to the growth of the opioid
epidemic, they are still sharing prescriptions. One in 10 Americans
admit they've offered or given their unused prescription drugs to a
friend or family member for either medical or recreational use.
That's according to findings from the recent consumer study,
"Unused Prescriptions & The Opioid Epidemic 2019," conducted by
Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRCL), a leading provider of highly
specialized compliance-based health care and waste solutions.
Although the 1,200-person study revealed Americans are sharing
their unused prescriptions, 72% believe having a safe and secure
way to dispose of leftover/unused prescription drugs would help
combat the opioid epidemic (up 3% from 2018 (69%). In fact, the
majority (71%) of Americans surveyed said their pharmacist, doctor
or prescribing medical professional does not inform them of drug
disposal methods, compared to nearly one in four Americans (24%)
who say their pharmacist, doctor, or prescribing medical
professional has informed them.
This gap in education contributes to improper disposal methods
with nearly one in three (29%) Americans admitting they have placed
leftover/unused prescription drugs in the trash (up 4% from 2018)
and more than one in four (26%) have flushed leftover/unused
prescription drugs down the drain/toilet (up 1% from 2018). Despite
improper disposal methods, more than half of Americans (60%) are
concerned that the flushing of unused painkillers, like oxycodone,
hydrocodone, morphine, etc., could pollute their drinking water or
make its way into their communities' rivers and lakes (down 1% from
2018).
"This report provides valuable insight on how consumers use,
share and dispose of prescription drugs," said Cindy Miller, President and CEO Elect of
Stericycle, Inc. "While solving the opioid epidemic is a complex
issue that requires support from all angles, there are steps that
consumers, health care providers and medical professionals can take
today to combat the effects of the epidemic. We believe increasing
education on how to safely and securely dispose of unused
prescriptions is a critical step that prevents them from ending up
in the wrong hands or in our waterways."
Additional findings from the Stericycle study include:
More education and access to proper disposal methods is
needed
- The majority of Americans (86%) say they would feel comfortable
asking their doctor or pharmacist how they should dispose of any
unused portion of their prescriptions.
- 80% of Americans say if their local pharmacy retailer had a
free prescription/over the counter medication drop-off kiosk, they
would use it to dispose of unused medication/prescriptions.
- However, more than half of Americans (65%) do not know if their
pharmacy allows them to turn in unused prescriptions for free.
Americans hold on to unused prescriptions
- Americans hold on to their unused prescriptions for future use
(37%) (up 7% from 2018), for fear of their illness returning (35%)
(up 3% from 2018) or because they don't know how to get rid of them
(18%) (up 4% from 2018).
- In fact, 47% of Americans currently have 1-3 bottles of unused
prescriptions in their medicine cabinet followed by eight percent
with 4-6 bottles, two percent with more than 10 bottles and two
percent with 7-10 bottles. This is compared to 2018 data which
showed 42% of Americans had 1-3 bottles, nine percent had 4-6
bottles and two percent had 7-10 bottles.
- Gen Z is the most likely to keep leftover/unused prescription
drugs for future use with 40% admitting they have kept
leftover/unused prescription drugs for future use, compared to 36%
of Millennials and 37% of Baby Boomers who said the same.
For more information about Stericycle and the "Unused
Prescriptions & The Opioid Epidemic 2019" report, click here to
visit the report page.
About Stericycle, Inc.
Stericycle, Inc., (Nasdaq:
SRCL) is a U.S. based business-to-business services company and
leading provider of compliance-based solutions that protect people
and brands, promote health and safeguard the environment.
Stericycle serves more than one million customers in all 50 U.S.
states and 21 countries worldwide with solutions for regulated
waste management, secure information destruction, compliance and
customer contact. For more information about Stericycle, please
visit www.stericycle.com.
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SOURCE Stericycle, Inc.