Oklahoma allows limited medication recycling

Abstract

Under a program that started in January and has environmental and economic appeal, 19 Oklahoma pharmacies have the state’s permission to dispense prescription medications that had been dispensed earlier by other pharmacies. The Unused Prescription Drug Program for Oklahoma’s Medically Indigent allows nursing homes and assisted-living facilities to send unused medications, including those from deceased patients, to pharmacies that then dispense those drugs to Oklahomans in need. But those medications must be in the original, sealed unit dose package or be an unused injectable product. Bryan H. Potter, executive director of the Oklahoma State Board of Pharmacy, traced the program’s origin to a group of retired Tulsa physicians, a supportive state representative, a Tulsa County clinic that served residents in need of medications but not poor enough to obtain them through Medicaid, and a similar county-run clinic in Oklahoma City. These clinics’ pharmacies either sold the medications at cost to indigent patients or dispensed a limited variety of drugs without charge, he said.