TROY, N.Y. — According to a July report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 30% in 2020 in the United States. Additionally, per their provisional data, more than 93,000 people died from drug overdoses last year, or a 29.4% increased from the estimated 72,151 deaths in 2019. In an effort to curtail those deaths, Rensselaer County adopted a new local law to cut down on the supply of opioids on the street.
Passed by the Rensselaer County Legislature and signed by Rensselaer County Executive Steve McLaughlin in July, the law requires all pharmacies that prescribe opioids to provide a drug deactivation bag with each transaction. The law also ensures that the cost of the deactivation bag is not passed on to the consumer.
During a Friday morning press briefing, at the County Office Building in Troy, McLaughlin, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, and NYSAC Executive Director Steve Acquario commented on the law and their ongoing joint efforts to fight the opioid crisis.
“We have heard story after story about opioids being accessed by a child or a relative, and sometimes leading to tragic outcomes. This is a simple and easy way to safely prevent opioids from getting taken by a child or others,” McLaughlin remarked on keeping the drugs out of the wrong hands.
With the deactivation bags, drugs are placed where water is added, shaken, and disposed of in the garbage.
“This is a fair law and simply requires pharmacies to be good partners with the community in helping get these drugs off the street,” McLaughlin explained.
On Friday, McCoy noted that Albany County will enforce a similar policy requiring pharmacies to supply the drug deactivation bags.
“Each year more lives are lost to opioid overdoses than the last, and COVID has made the situation worse than ever before. This is nothing short of an emergency. That’s why [Friday] I joined with County Executive McLaughlin and NYSAC to announced that I signed an executive order requiring Albany County pharmacies to include an opioid deactivation and disposal pouch with every opioid prescription, and we’ll fund it using that national opioid settlement funds,” McCoy remarked, adding he’ll be working with the county legislature to pass a corresponding local law.
Additionally, Rensselaer County continues to monitor and create awareness on the disturbing trend of not only opioid but non-opioid drugs being laced with fentanyl. According to the White House, fentanyl accounted for 62 percent of the aforementioned overdose deaths last year.
“We talked about this constantly. We talked about texting “Narcan” to 21000, we talked about fentanyl,” McLaughlin remarked on fostering awareness.
“That day we had 17 overdoses, it was cocaine, was the problem. So we have constantly talked about that and that’s why we deliver Narcan door to door. It’s why we are doing this. It’s raising that awareness,” McLaughlin added.
McCoy also echoed those sentiments on sharing information and messaging between counties throughout the Capital District.
“We’ve talked about this a couple of years ago when [Steve] first got into office, was about having an overall drug czar so to speak in every county, representing not just Rensselaer County, Albany County, Saratoga. It was one of the things we were sitting at the table and continued to talk about and then Covid hits. But even then it’s the politics, how do you get every police agency to answer to one person to oversee the whole Capital District to streamline it? It’s not just an issue in Rensselaer County, it’s not just an issue in Albany or Schenectady or Saratoga, Columbia, Greene, Ulster, we’re in this together,” McCoy noted on the importance of being able to streamline data and information across jurisdictions.
Additionally, Acquario lauded the local initiatives being carried out by county leaders on battling this issue.
“Providing safe disposal options for unused medications is an important way that counties help to keep our communities safe. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to the postponement of drug take-back events and exacerbated the epidemic of opioid addiction, we commend County Executive McLaughlin for taking action to provide residents with a convenient, at-home drug disposal option that works,” Acquario said.
“By requiring providers to co-dispense a safe disposal pouch with every opioid prescription, Rensselaer County is demonstrating the leadership and creativity that counties across the state have displayed since the beginning of the opioid crisis. We applaud Rensselaer County for adopting this local law to keep medications out of the wrong hands, curb abuse, and save lives,” Aqcuario added.
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August 21, 2021 at 03:17AM
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Local law to require deactivation bag at pharmacies prescribing opioids - Troy Record
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