November, 2014
As you’re aware, our pharmacy has been working in cooperation with the Great Lakes Clean Water Yellow Jug Old Drugs program. We encourage consumers to bring old drugs to our store and deposit them in a special container – instead of dumping them down the toilet or throwing them in the garbage. Even though the overall amounts are small in comparison to the vast amount of drugs used and discarded, it is clearly better to do something than to throw up our hands in defeat.In the three months ending October 2014 we collected and destroyed 32 pounds of drugs with the program.
Numerous studies have demonstrated the presence of drugs in our water supplies and it is obvious that the levels are on the rise, all across the nation.
Recently we have been granted approval by the DEA to begin accepting controlled substances into the return system. Our DEA license has been modified and we will begin accepting controlled substances immediately after receiving and installing the required lockable collection station.
The Yellow Jug program cost is born 100% by the participating pharmacies and the number of such pharmacies grows daily in the Great Lakes region. There is never a charge to consumers who take advantage of the disposal system.
While it is clearly obvious that we don’t want to dump waste drugs into our environment, it is equally problematic to add other drugs to the water supply – particularly drugs and chemicals that show no benefit in making the water clean and safe. We have bans on phosphates and industrial chemicals, yet each community in Illinois is under a state mandate to add fluoride to our drinking water. The intent of the additions is related to cavities and how important fluoride is in preventing them.
Over the years since Illinois began adding fluoride numerous research works have demonstrated that consuming fluoride in drinking water isn't as effective as once thought. This is not to suggest fluoride is not helpful, but that it is of limited use when swallowed. The superior method is application by a trained dental professional.
There are several arguments swirling about the topic, but one seems to get scant notice; that adding fluoride – a chemical drug – for the purpose of possible preventing cavities, is akin to dumping other drugs into the water supply – the very thing we try to limit by collecting and safely destroying unused drugs.
Rather than engaging in statewide arguments for and against adding fluoride, I ask our state legislature to consider removing the unfunded mandate to add fluoride and instead allow each community to decide for itself whether to add fluoride or not.
Larry J. Frieders, R.Ph.
The Compounder Pharmacy
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecompounder
340 Marshall, Unit 100 ~ Aurora, IL 60506
Tel: 630.859.0333 FAX: 630.859.0114
