Walmart Launches Free Opioid Disposal Packets
- by Mabel Barber
- in Medical
- — Jan 18, 2018
The retail chain said Wednesday that its pharmacies will offer a free kit that allows patients to safely throw out unused opioid prescription pills at home.
Here are three things to know. When the packet is emptied into a pill bottle with warm water, the ingredients convert powders, pills, tablets, capsules, liquids, or patches into a non-divertible and biodegradable gel.
"The best part is that patients don't have to take the drugs back to a location", Marybeth Hays, Wal-Mart's head of consumables and health and wellness in the US, said in an interview.
The company is supplying packets that can help patients properly dispose of their opioid prescriptions if they have any left over.
Walmart is helping customers get rid of leftover opioids by giving them packets that turn the addictive painkillers into a useless gel.
As part of its efforts to address the crisis, Walmart says it will also provide ongoing counseling to prescription customers at its 4,700 pharmacy locations.
The move comes as the U.S. grapples with the scourge of opioid addiction, an affliction that often begins when chronic-pain sufferers fill a prescription at a retail pharmacy chain such as Wal-Mart, CVS or Walgreens. Walmart will also offer free DisposeRx packets to existing patients.
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'While this issue requires many resources to solve, we are confident this unique, easy-to-use disposal solution, DisposeRx, will make a meaningful impact on the lives of many. The DisposeRx packets will be made available at Sam's Club as well.
More than 64,000 Americans died from drug overdoses in 2016, with most of those deaths related to prescription opioids or illegal opioids such as heroin.
Walmart is handing out DisposeRx for free at all of its pharmacies.
Walmart touted an endorsement of its move from Sen.
Walmart is not alone in trying to address the opioid epidemic.
It's a smart idea, one that can prevent unused medications from entering the black market. CVS started selling Narcan in 2016 and limited opioid prescriptions to seven days in September.
