The JED Foundation And Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Partner To Provide Safe Drug Disposal Systems To College Campuses

Drug deactivation pouches help minimize risks of misuse and abuse

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Dec 02, 2015, 07:05 ET

The JED Foundation logo

NEW YORK, Dec. 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --The JED Foundation (JED) is proud to announce today that over 70 college campuses across the U.S. will receive thousands of free medication disposal systems as a donation from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. In partnership with JED, Mallinckrodt has provided 30,000 medication deactivation pouches to help schools promote the safe and convenient disposal of unused prescription drugs. The environmentally friendly disposal systems will help reduce the chance for misuse, abuse or diversion of prescription drugs on college campuses.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) identifies prescription drug abuse as the nation's fastest-growing drug problem.¹ The issue is particularly critical on college campuses, where the proportion of students who abuse prescription painkillers dramatically increased 343% to 240,000 students nationwide from 1993 to 2005.²

"We are incredibly grateful to our partner Mallinckrodt for providing a deactivation and disposal method that can help reduce the amount of unused medications on college campuses," said John MacPhee, JED Foundation Executive Director. "Prescription drug abuse and misuse is of great concern to the campuses that JED supports. This donation helps build safer, healthier campus communities."

"Mallinckrodt is dedicated to providing safe and effective medications for treatment of patients with pain," said Kevin Webb, Mallinckrodt Director of Advocacy Relations. "We are equally committed to working with partners like The JED Foundation, as well as policymakers, law enforcement and industry partners to address the complex issues of opioid addiction and abuse, and prevent unused medications from ending up in the wrong hands."

JED initiated distribution of the systems this fall, with colleges providing them to student populations via health and counseling centers and school pharmacies. For many colleges receiving the systems, this donation fills a critical gap where tight college budgets and community programs fall short.

"This support comes at a very important time as locally funded programs have been scaled back," said Diane Bell of the University of California Santa Barbara Student Health Pharmacy. "This donation will fill the gap in resources to support our students."

Alison Cutlip of West Virginia University's Center for Psychological and Psychiatric Services notes, "We are so grateful for this generous donation. It is an amazing opportunity to offer these disposal systems on campus, and we hope they will jump start our efforts to raise awareness and support a campus-wide campaign about responsible medication use."

The drug deactivation systems are manufactured by Minneapolis-based Verde Technologies, which provides safe, environmentally responsible solutions for disposal of unwanted pharmaceutical waste.

Mallinckrodt is a global specialty biopharmaceutical and medical imaging business that develops, manufactures, markets and distributes specialty pharmaceutical products and medical imaging agents. Areas of focus include therapeutic drugs for autoimmune and rare disease specialty areas like neurology, rheumatology, nephrology and pulmonology; immunotherapy and neonatal respiratory critical care therapies; and analgesics and central nervous system drugs. The company's core strengths include the acquisition and management of highly regulated raw materials; deep regulatory expertise; and specialized chemistry, formulation and manufacturing capabilities. To learn more about Mallinckrodt, visit www.mallinckrodt.com.

About The JED Foundation
The JED Foundation is a leading nonprofit working to protect the emotional health of teenagers and college students. Our programs are inspiring a new national dialogue on mental health, encouraging millions of young people to speak up and take action, and changing the way academic institutions create healthier campus communities and prevent substance abuse and self-harm. These programs include: The Campus Program, a groundbreaking self-assessment and feedback program that helps colleges create more comprehensive solutions to support their students; ULifeline, an online resource that helps students understand and address mental health conditions like depression and anxiety disorders; the Half of Us campaign, with MTV, which uses online and on-air programming to share stories and encourage help-seeking; the Love is Louder movement that helps individuals, communities, and schools build resiliency, create connectedness, and promote acceptance; Transition Year, an online resource for parents aimed at helping to ensure a smooth, healthy transition into college life; and a portfolio of resources that helps campuses promote emotional health and protect at-risk students. Learn more at www.jedfoundation.org. Follow us on social media: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn