Walmart offers free opioid disposal product to Delaware customers

Research conducted by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse found that a prescription drug was the first opioid used by 75% of people who have abused drugs since 2000.

To help reduce the easy access to prescription drugs, Walmart, which is the largest retailer in the US, has been embarking on a project to give each customer who fills an opioid prescription a free drug disposal product. The initiative is now taking root in Delaware, a state plagued by an opioid crisis – the state witnessed a 105% increase in overdose-related hospital visits between July 2016 and September 2017.

The disposal product is a powder called DisposeRx, which people can insert into a bottle of medication when they want to dispose of unwanted drugs. When mixed with water and shaken for a few seconds, the powder and drugs form a gel-like matter that renders the drugs unusable. After about ten minutes, the bottle can be safely thrown away in the rubbish.

DisposeRx CEO, John Holaday, said the product is an easy way to dispose of unwanted drugs at home and that once the gel of cross-linking polymers solidifies, it is impossible to extract the encapsulated drugs. The powder is non-toxic and will cause no ill effects if accidentally ingested. DisposeRx can be used to dispose of pills, liquids, capsules, and tablets.

Walmart will make free DisposeRx packets available to customers at its 4,700 retail locations nationwide. Bhavin Patel, Walmart’s Health and Wellness Market Director, said, “If patients feel like they have medications lying around in their medicine cabinets, we welcome them to come back to us, talk to us, and we will hand them out additional packets.”