The Legislature is currently considering LD 821, a bill that will require drug manufacturers to develop a take-back/disposal program for used or expired prescription drugs.

I support that bill because the program will help Maine citizens in three important ways. First, the program will keep these drugs out of the wrong hands. Maine is number one in the country per capita for prescription drug-related crime. The Maine Drug Enforcement Agency has reported that prescription drug-related break-ins, assaults and thefts doubled from 2008 to 2009.

Second, more Maine people died in 2008 from prescription drug-related deaths than in auto accident fatalities. More than 90 percent of all drug deaths were caused by prescription drugs — legally prescribed medications that were either abused or mistakenly taken.

Third, disposing of prescription drugs in the trash has resulted in drugs getting into the wrong hands, accidental poisonings and environmental contamination. Recently, Maine researchers reported that if medications go into a landfill, they show up in the water that ultimately ends up in our rivers. Another recent news study found medications in drinking water from Sebago Lake, the city of Portland’s water supply.

The manufacturers of these drugs complain that a drug take-back program is too complicated, but there is already a pilot program that is working well, where anyone can pick up a free, pre-paid envelope at local pharmacies and mail unwanted medications to the MDEA for safe disposal.

I support passage of LD 821.

Faye Luppi, Poland Spring