File #: Res 0048-2006    Version: * Name: Authorizing counties and cities to collect unused prescriptions from nursing homes.
Type: Resolution Status: Filed
Committee: Committee on Health
On agenda: 2/15/2006
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to adopt legislation authorizing counties and cities to collect unused prescriptions from nursing homes, wholesalers and manufacturers, and redistribute them to the low-income uninsured in order to reduce waste while helping the poor obtain low-cost medicines.
Sponsors: Gale A. Brewer, Inez E. Dickens, Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Rosie Mendez, Michael C. Nelson, James Sanders, Jr., David I. Weprin
Council Member Sponsors: 8

Res. No. 48

 

Resolution calling upon the New York State Legislature to adopt legislation authorizing counties and cities to collect unused prescriptions from nursing homes, wholesalers and manufacturers, and redistribute them to the low-income uninsured in order to reduce waste while helping the poor obtain low-cost medicines. 

 

 By Council Members Brewer, Dickens, James, Mark-Viverito, Mendez, Nelson, Sanders Jr. and Weprin

 

Whereas, According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), almost 25 percent of Americans under age 65 have no prescription drug coverage; and

Whereas, Rising prescripiton drug costs increasingly put necessary pharmaceutical therapies beyond the reach of many New York’s residents; and

Whereas, A May 18, 2005 New York Times article indicated that a study published in the Journal of Family Medicne in 2001 estmated that $1 billion a year in drugs prescribed to the elderly are thrown away; and

Whereas, According to the New York Times article, although the Food and Drug Administration generally forbids the redistribution of prescription drugs once they are dispensed to consumers, states are allowed to establish their own policies for drugs controlled by long-term facilities, nursing homes, and other pharmacies; and

Whereas, Several states, including California, have passed legislation which allows counties, through local oridinances, to establish a repository and distribution program for the purpose of distributing surplus unused medications, donated by specific entities, to persons in need of assistance; and

Whereas, According to advocates of this legislation, including a team of medical students from Stanford University, such legislation could reduce waste as well as assist low-income patients receive much needed medications; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls upon the New York State Legislature to adopt legislation authorizing counties and cities to collect unused prescriptions from nursing homes, wholesalers and manufacturers, and redistribute them to the low-income uninsured in order to reduce waste while helping the poor obtain low-cost medicines. 

 

 

 

 

LS # 45

JP 2/7/06