Title
a. Receive and accept an oral report from the Prescribe Safe Initiative regarding initiative efforts and outcomes for the county; and
b. Direct staff to identify funding in the amount of $14,400 for two years of disposal costs of unwanted medication for six safe medication disposal sites at $1,200 per site per year.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Receive and accept an oral report from the Prescribe Safe Initiative regarding initiative efforts and outcomes for the county; and
b. Direct staff to identify funding in the amount of $14,400 for two years of disposal costs of unwanted medication for six safe medication disposal sites at $1,200 per site per year.
SUMMARY/DISCUSSION:
U.S. sales of prescription opioid drugs for medical use began to rise dramatically starting in 1999. While these drugs have therapeutic benefit, their use can lead to accidental overdose and long-term addiction if risks are not carefully managed through patient education and oversight. Patients, their families, and the surrounding community can be impacted. Prescriptions that are stronger than needed, in greater quantities than necessary, or duplicate other prescriptions; a combination which can all lead to dangerous outcomes for patients. Nationally, opioid sales, prescription opioid related deaths, and admissions for opioid addiction treatment all increased dramatically over the last 20 years. Opioid prescription drug misuse can lead to substitution of heroin for prescription drugs once prescriptions run out. There has been a particularly sharp rise in heroin overdose deaths in the United States since 2010.
Counties have begun to respond to the epidemic by developing local response efforts through collaboratives. Prescribe Safe Monterey County was formed in 2014 by Monterey County law enforcement, administration of the four Monterey County hospitals, and led by local Emergency Department physicians in response to concerns about prescr...
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