Statement of Angelo M. Valente, Chief Executive Officer of the American Medicine Chest Challenge, to the Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration hearing on Procedures for the Surrender of Unwanted Controlled Substances by Ultimate Users.

January 20, 2010

Mayflower Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel

Good Afternoon. My name is Angelo Valente, Chief Executive Officer of the American Medicine Chest Challenge.

I would like to begin by thanking the Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration for affording me this opportunity to address this hearing on Procedures for the Surrender of Unwanted Controlled Substances by Ultimate Users.

We have all heard throughout the past two days about the serious issue of prescription drug abuse and the alarming research that demonstrates that the number one access point is the family medicine chest.

Three years ago the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, the parent organization of the American Medicine Chest Challenge, in response to statewide research that showed 47% of parents of middle school children knew little or nothing about prescription drug abuse created the first statewide comprehensive public health campaign to highlight this growing epidemic among our young people.

The public service campaign entitled “Grandma’s Stash” brought heightened awareness to the issue of prescription drug abuse and the easy access point that exists in each of our homes.

Met with great success, the two time national award winning campaign, Grandma’s Stash, not only increased awareness but also started a movement among New Jersey residents to take action in protecting their children and grandchildren by disposing their unused, unwanted, and expired medicines.

The only problem was that – at that point—there was little direction, confusing regulations, and no disposal locations for residents to utilize.

As a direct result of this newfound need the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey partnered with the DEA-NJ division, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, and hundreds of local law enforcement, government, non-profit, media, and corporate partners to create the first in the nation day of disposal of prescription and over-the-counter drugs called Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey. Operation Medicine Cabinet New Jersey accomplished three main goals:

• It generated unprecedented media attention to the issue of prescription and over-the-counter medicine abuse
• It caused tens of thousands of New Jersey residents to look at their medicine cabinets as a potential source for young people to access highly addictive and deadly drugs.
• It created a way for adults to safely dispose of unused, unwanted, and expired medicine.

In 4 hours on Saturday, November 14, 2009, more than 9,000 pounds of medicine, with a street value of more than $35 million, was collected. Eighty percent of New Jersey’s residents had easy access to a local collection site, resulting in participation by more than 25,000 people. More than 450 local police and law enforcement agencies established local collection sites.

The success of this first in the nation statewide public health initiative was featured in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy 2010 National Drug Control Strategy.

The success of this initiative could be summed up in three simple words – Cooperation, Collaboration, and Communities.

Building on the success of the New Jersey pilot program, keeping in mind Cooperation, Collaboration, and Communities; and, responding to calls from community leaders throughout the country for guidance on implementing this initiative, the American Medicine Chest Challenge was created.

The American Medicine Chest Challenge is a community based public health initiative, with law enforcement partnership, designed to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and provide a nationwide day of disposal – at a collection site or in the home - of unused, unwanted, and expired medicine that will be held in communities across the country.

The American Medicine Chest Challenge provides a unified national, statewide, and local focus to the issue of medicine abuse by children and teens. It is designed to generate unprecedented media attention to the issue of prescription and over-the-counter medicine abuse and to challenge all Americans to take the 5 Step American Medicine Chest Challenge:

•Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine.

• Secure your medicine chest.

• Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine in your home or at an American Medicine Chest Challenge Disposal site.

•Take your medicine(s) exactly as prescribed.

•Talk to your children about the dangers of prescription drug abuse... they are listening.

With cooperation and collaboration from national organizations such as PhRMA, the Partnership at Drugfree.org, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, and NIDA this initiative was provided without any cost to any community, government, or law enforcement agency in the country and did not utilize a single tax dollar -- something I think we can all appreciate in these difficult economic times.

The 2010 Inaugural American Medicine Chest Challenge (AMCC) reached and surpassed its goals of establishing a national public health initiative with coalitions and law enforcement partnerships in 37 states.

Not only did thousands of local community residents dispose of over 10 tons of unused, unwanted, and expired medicine, but more importantly the lifesaving AMCC 5 step message was delivered as a result of the over $10 million dollars of in-kind media exposure AMCC received, once again, without any cost to taxpayers.

This was made possible due to cooperation, collaboration, and communities where each of these entities were able to bring their unique capacity to compliment each other’s abilities… law enforcement to safely collect, store, and dispose; community leaders and organizations to increase awareness and promote local participation; corporations and national organizations to provide support; and, the American Medicine Chest Challenge to orchestrate, facilitate, and assist all cooperating partners and to leverage in-kind media support.

As you develop procedures for the Surrender of Unwanted Controlled Substances by ultimate users the American Medicine Chest Challenge believes that Cooperation, Collaboration, and Communities should be the main ingredients to assure success.

The new procedures for the surrender of unwanted controlled substances by ultimate users should encourage cooperation among all stakeholders, foster collaboration between community and non-profit organizations, local, county, and state government agencies and law enforcement to maximize the effectiveness of surrendering unwanted controlled substances by ultimate users. And, finally, to be community driven where local, county, and state leaders can and will have the capacity to lead their constituents in this very crucial public health crisis.

Thank you.