President Obama Signs Safe and Secure Drug Disposal Act into Law

The Safe and Secure Drug Disposal Act (S 3397) was signed into law on Tuesday. This law is intended to allow individuals to more easily and safely dispose of controlled substances while reducing the chance of diversion.

Under the law, a patient who has "lawfully obtained a controlled substance" may now deliver unused portions of that controlled substance to another entity for destruction without a Drug Enforce Agency registration if: 1) the person receiving controlled substance is "authorized" to do so under the law; and 2) the drug is disposed of in accordance with regulations issued by the Attorney General.

The law addresses a longstanding issue where patients were not allowed to return drugs to a DEA registrant because such a return would be outside the "closed chain of distribution" established by the Controlled Substances Act. This law will provide DEA with the authority to promulgate regulations to facilitate such returns but does not authorize DEA to mandate that entities establish a disposal program.

The law would allow the Attorney General to grant long-term care facilities (as defined by the Attorney General) the ability to dispose of controlled substances from residents in a manner that reduces diversion. In addition, any individual who is entitled to a decedent’s property may deliver any controlled substances in the decedent’s possession at the time of his or her death to a disposal program.

R. Gil Kerlikowske, Office of National Drug Control Policy Director, issued the following statement regarding the passage of the law.

"Prescription drug abuse is America's fastest-growing drug problem, and one largely fed by an unlikely source - Americans' medicine cabinets. The passage of the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 will save lives by providing patients with safe, environmentally sound ways to dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs."

In a letter from February of 2009 to Congressman Jim Moran (D-Va.), CADCA expressed our support of the law, noting that legislation such as this will help coalitions be more effective in their efforts to raise awareness and to reduce the access and availability of prescription drugs within the community.

The law also requires the United States Sentencing Commission to review and potentially increase the federal sentencing guidelines for people who receive controlled substances from patients or long-term care facilities as part of a disposal program but use them for illegal activities rather than properly disposing of them.