Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Friday commended events hosted across the nation by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to collect and dispose of prescription drugs.
Portman delivered his comments ahead of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday.
“In the last decade, prescription drug abuse has reached epidemic proportions in parts of Ohio,” Portman said. “It has devastated the lives and livelihoods of individual Ohioans and taken a dangerous toll on American families and communities. We still have a lot of work to do, but with continued federal, state and local efforts to combat this epidemic, I have no doubt we will continue to make great strides in the fight against prescription drug abuse.”
The DEA has collected 26,207 pounds of prescription drugs in Ohio in recent years. Still, as many as 1 million Ohio residents are addicted to prescription drugs or heroin, and drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the state, according to the Ohio Opiate Action Team.
Portman and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) urged Attorney General Eric Holder to leverage the best criminal justice and public health practices available to help with addiction education, prevention and treatment in a letter sent earlier this month.
“We applaud Department of Justice programs such as the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, which provides a safe way to dispose of unwanted prescription drugs and helps educate the public about the potential for abuse of widely available medications,” Portman and Udall said. “We see value in expanding this approach to one where disposal sites are much more available. We encourage (Holder) to work with other federal agencies, such as the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Education, as well as state and local partners to build on programs that help prevent abuse.”
The senators also said drug courts and other re-entry and diversion programs should be used to fully integrate the criminal justice system with public health.