The King County Board of Health Subcommittee on Secure Medicine Return was the recipient of the Washington State Exemplary Substance Abuse Prevention Award in the Local Government category. Kenmore Mayor and Board of Health member David Baker accepted the award on behalf of the subcommittee during the Washington State Prevention Summit in Yakima held Oct. 21.
The Prevention Summit is convened by the Division of Behavioral Health and Recovery of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. The prevention community includes, among others, the Liquor Control Board’s Alcohol Awareness Program, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington Association for Substance Abuse and Violence Prevention, the Prevention Specialist Certification Board of Washington and local providers.
The Secure Medicine Return Subcommittee was nominated by Inga Manskopf, who works in the Seattle Children’s Hospital Division of Adolescent Medicine and is a member of the King County Take Back Your Meds Coalition.
“The adoption of a secure medicine return program in King County is part of a multi-pronged strategy for preventing youth medicine abuse,” said Manskopf. “It goes hand-in-hand with coalition and community-based educational activities; the statewide prescription monitoring program; law enforcement efforts to break up illegal sales of medications; and national campaigns teaching people to lock up their medications. As with all substance abuse prevention, multiple partners are needed to be most effective. The King County Board of Health’s Subcommittee on Secure Medicine Return is a perfect example of government playing their part in prevention.”
The Subcommittee on Secure Medicine Return developed a rule and regulation to establish a secure medicine return program in King County that will reduce the amount of unused and unwanted medicines in homes and be part of a comprehensive, community-wide strategy for preventing youth substance abuse. King County is only the second jurisdiction in the United States to adopt medicine return program using a product stewardship model that requires pharmaceutical companies doing business in the county to implement and pay for it.
Since the Subcommittee’s process was deliberate and transparent, many community organizations that traditionally do not work together collaborated to advocate for a secure medicine return program. The Subcommittee reached out to community organizations including substance abuse prevention coalitions, environmental groups, and medical providers, in addition to pharmaceutical companies to gain input about policy development.
To learn more about the Secure Medicine Return program go here.
