Review and assessment of drug disposal state statutes in the United States, 2022

Abstract

Background: Ensuring opportunities exist to dispose of unused or unwanted drugs that are appropriate, accessible, and affordable is critical to avoid misuse and lasting harm to the environment.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to identify state statutes promulgated in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) facilitating disposal of unused or unwanted drugs in the community setting and assess their characteristics.

Methods: A retrospective review of state statutes in all 50 U.S. states and DC between October 2020 and May 2022 was conducted. Statutes using terms "drug and disposal or collection" and that were intended to facilitate disposal of unused or unwanted drugs were included. Drug donation programs or repositories, drug returns to the pharmacy, charitable clinics, and others not intended to dispose or unused or unwanted drugs were excluded. Publicly available resources and Westlaw, a legal resource, were used to identify state statutes. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings.

Results: Of the 50 U.S. states and DC, we found that most states enacted a statute pertaining to drug disposal (63%; n = 32) as of May 2022. Of states with a drug disposal statute, few had funding mechanisms or required pharmacy participation. Most statutes specified the type of product that may be accepted for disposal, what site may accept them, and who may dispose of the product. Few states specified which health care provider or other individual may accept the product(s) for disposal.

Conclusion: Most states have enacted statutes facilitating drug disposal, but their characteristics varied widely. Opportunities may exist at the state level to further incentivize proper drug disposal, and further research is needed to measure possible effects of these state statutes.