City of Philadelphia - File #: 140619

• File #: 140619
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 6/19/2014
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 6/19/2014
• Title: Authorizing Council's Committee on Public Safety to hold public hearings examining the need for a strategic plan for prescription drug drop boxes throughout the City of Philadelphia to take back expired, unused or unwanted prescriptions and the effect these boxes will have in the battle against prescription drug misuse, abuse, addiction and overdose.
• Sponsors: Councilmember O'Brien, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Oh, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Johnson, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Quiñones Sánchez, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Bass, Councilmember Squilla, Councilmember Henon, Councilmember Reynolds Brown, Councilmember O'Neill

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
6/19/2014	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed on This Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass
6/19/2014	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED

Title
Authorizing Council's Committee on Public Safety to hold public hearings examining the need for a strategic plan for prescription drug drop boxes throughout the City of Philadelphia to take back expired, unused or unwanted prescriptions and the effect these boxes will have in the battle against prescription drug misuse, abuse, addiction and overdose.

Body
WHEREAS, Prescription drug misuse, abuse, addiction and overdose is becoming an epidemic in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose death rates in the United States have more than tripled since 1990, in large part due to increased prescription drug abuse; and

WHEREAS, Nearly 15,000 people die every year of overdoses involving prescription painkillers. The number of overdose deaths from prescription drugs is now greater than those of deaths from heroin and cocaine combined; and

WHEREAS, In 2010, 1 in 20 people in the U.S. (age 12 or older) reported using highly addictive prescription painkillers for non-medical reasons in the past year; and

WHEREAS, Among those who reported past-year non-medical use of a prescription drug, nearly 14 percent met criteria for abuse of or addiction; and

WHEREAS, Abuse of prescription drugs is highest among young adults aged 18 to 25; and

WHEREAS, It is estimated that the abuse of opioid analgesics results in over $72 billion in medical costs alone each year; and

WHEREAS, According to a 2011 survey in Pennsylvania, 14 percent of youth surveyed admitted to taking prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them and 18 percent felt that prescription drugs were not harmful; and

WHEREAS, Almost all prescription drugs involved in overdoses come from prescriptions originally. More than three out of four people who misuse prescription painkillers use drugs prescribed to someone else; and

WHEREAS, America's 12 to 17 year olds have made prescription drugs the number one substance of abuse for the...