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State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson announced this week that, due to a lack of support among members of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, she is shelving her SB 1014, a bill to create the nation’s first statewide drug take-back program for prescription and over-the-counter drugs. In the meantime, Jackson is amending the bill to reinstate model guidelines, developed by CalRecycle, for local governments wanting to create their own drug take-back programs, so that efforts can continue at the local level.
In a press release, Senator Jackson expressed her disappointment that the statewide take back program will not move forward this year, and emphasized her “commitment to this issue and to helping to solve the immense public health and environmental challenges created by unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs. I always expected change of this magnitude to be a multi-year effort. I look forward to taking the next several months to determine how to best move forward with legislation next year that will create a statewide drug take-back program,” Jackson said.
Senate Bill 1014, as it was introduced in January, would have required drug manufacturers to create, finance and manage a statewide system for collecting and safely disposing of unwanted prescription drugs that people have in their homes. CASA was among a long and diverse list of supporters of the measure.
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