High School Students Help Pass Landmark Legislation

by Megan Dobransky
Published on June 1st, 2011

Last week historic legislation passed through the Illinois General Assembly – with the help of high school students.

HB2056 is the first law in America that completely handles and funds pharmaceutical disposal for an entire state.

“Municipalities and state governments don’t have to pay,” says Paul Ritter, ecology teacher and director of the National Prescription Pill and Drug Disposal Program (P2D2). The program is funded by enacting a $20 fine against anyone convicted of certain drug offenses.

“This is a model that can be replicated in other states,” Ritter says.

P2D2 as a proper drug disposal program has already spread to 13 states, but this landmark legislation is the first to fully fund the program. Previously, the program used tipping fees from landfills, but that wasn’t sustainable in all counties in Illinois. “Basically, the state said, ‘if you can solve the money problem, you can have the whole state.’ So, we did.”

In Illinois and other states, the program helps local pharmacies, police and fire departments, officials and students collaborate to collect unwanted medications and educate the public about the dangers of not properly disposing of medication and drugs.

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Pharmacies collect prescription and non-prescription drugs in bins and then send full bins to be incinerated, keeping the drugs out of waterways.

Any controlled substances, which are drugs or chemicals regulated by the government, are returned to the police or fire department and then disposed of according to appropriate procedures.

P2D2 has been a success largely on the backs of high school students who have lobbied state governments and helped spread the word about the program.

“Who better to change our world than the future of our world? My mission is to make kids active participants in their lives, their world and their future world,” Ritter says.

Ritter says that many people don’t understand the impact of improperly disposing of unwanted medications, such as flushing down the toilet or throwing them in the trash. He points to a 2000 U.S. Geological Survey study that found pharmaceuticals in 80 percent of streams sampled across 30 states. While the ramification of these contaminates in our water supply remains unclear, Ritter – also a zoologist – says, “there is biological modification taking place and hormone problems in animals.”

He says it’s important to note that proper disposal methods for medications use waste-to-energy. “The material gets incinerated; you’re taking something not good and getting something that’s pretty good out of it,” Ritter says.

Ritter hopes to continue to grow the P2D2 program to as many other states as possible and enable young people to be actively involved in their local governments and environmental policy.

“I’m just a normal person – a teacher in the middle of Corntown, USA, but when we have people that work together, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished,” Ritter says.

To learn more about P2D2 and how to start your own program, visit P2D2′s website.