Producer responsibility programs for unwanted medicines spreading

In March, the Governor of Massachusetts "signed into law a bill that made Massachusetts the first state in the nation to require drug companies to safely dispose of unwanted medications as part of a comprehensive drug abuse prevention strategy," according to a news release from the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI). Meanwhile Los Angeles County (CA), Cook County (IL), and the Board of Health of Snohomish County (WA) are considering pharmaceutical stewardship policies. An article in the LA Times ("pharmaceutical industry is lobbying hard against an L.A. County drug take-back proposal"), noted that the pharmaceutical industry is "spending more on lobbying than they ever would on a take-back program." King County (WA) and six California counties have passed pharmaceutical stewardship laws and are in the process of implementing producer funded programs.