What would you do if you discovered that your drinking water contained antibiotics, heart medications, psychiatric drugs and hormones from birth control pills?

My name is Jordyn Schara and I am 14 years old.  The problem mentioned above is very real and has been happening in lakes, rivers and waterways across America.  That is why I started Wisconsin P²D², which stands for Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal.  I discovered that most people are unsure of how to dispose of their unwanted and expired medications.  They usually resort to flushing them down the toilet or the sink or just leaving them in their medicine cabinets.  Each of these methods has devastating consequences.

When medications are flushed down the toilet or poured down the sink, they contaminate our groundwater, causing problems for humans and aquatic animals.  If drugs are thrown out in the trash, they are accessible to children and pets and the medications can still get into our groundwater.

More people are now leaving their prescriptions in their medicine cabinets.  This innocent act is fueling the newest drug problem among America’s teens – Prescription and Over-The-Counter (OTC) Drug Abuse.  Teens are having “Pharm Parties” in which they mix all the medications that they have taken from their friends’ and relatives’ medicine cabinets and use them, not realizing the danger.  In 2006, more than 2.1 million teens ages 12 to 17 reported abusing prescription drugs.  Among 12 and 13-year-olds, prescription drugs are the drug of choice¹.  About 3.1 million people age 12 to 25 had used an OTC cough and cold medication to get high, and nearly 1 million had done so in the past year².

This has not been an easy project.  I have been researching the Internet and emailing experts since January.  After being told over and over by the DNR, EPA and local government that this is too big of a project and too difficult for a 14 year old to handle, I am proud to say that the first drug disposal event in my hometown of Reedsburg, WI will be this September, and it will also be host to a flu shot clinic, a free sharps disposal and a free mercury thermometer swap (the 1^st 100 people with mercury thermometers are given free digital thermometers).  The cost to dispose of household hazardous waste is $3/pound and I have raised over $1700 so far to cover these costs.

My goal is to make this project self-sustainable and that one day each community will have its own drug disposal project.  I have just received word today that because of WI P2D2, my local police department ordered a portable incinerator.  So now instead of paying a disposal company $3/pound to dispose of our household hazardous waste, we can dispose of our own!  Then, all of the funds that I have raised so far can go to purchasing a permanent drop off box.  This will make our progam the first self-sustainable one in Wisconsin!!  We will no longer need to hold "events" and fundraisers - drug disposal will be convenient for each person, just like it should be.

Please help me spread the word about the danger of prescription and OTC abuse and the proper disposal and security of these medications.

Thank you,

Jordyn Schara

¹   2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

²  2008 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services  Administration (SAMHSA)