Sunday, March 10, 2019

Thoughts while shoveling snow…
(the ones that can be printed!)
Like: “How to make money 
selling drugs… legally!”

Perhaps due to being confined inside during recent frigid snowstorms… my mind pursued this thought:  people are expected to turn in their unused medications to a central drop off site or get rid of them someway.
BUT… why shouldn’t the person dropping them off get paid for them? Like when you return a product.
  Other businesses give refunds. So why not the “Big Pharma folks”?
Kind of an incentive to get drugs out of a potential robbery or accidentally in the hands of a curious child.
What about trust?
Plus: how do I know I can I trust that the medication “picker upper” person isn’t reselling them?
“Street value…”
I wanted to check out the “street value” of some of these drugs on the internet.  But then I thought I might get in trouble if someone was spying on my site.  And you might be suspicious if I stopped by and asked to use your computer!
So I was guessing $20 - $32 a pill for oxycodone. 
Now the folks I know who have had them legally prescribed don’t want to get addicted so they ration them pretty carefully.  
And if they don’t use them - they might have a good amount of money to gain.
Facebook…
I posted this question on Facebook and got some interesting replies.  I also reminded everyone that I don’t take meds at this time so don’t come checking me out! 
Researching these drugs on the internet showed that some of them could be passed on to third world countries where their access to meds is limited.  
And the effectiveness of some meds might not be as outdated as their labels would suggest.
Safety issues?
But a concern would be that the unused meds might have been tampered with.  So that would rule out capsules I guess.
Local drop off site
Cannon Falls has a drop off site for left-over meds situated inside city hall and next to the police department.  
Checking with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) they had some suggestions: like putting them in an unappealing product or flushing them down toilets or putting them in plastic bags in your trash.  But some folks don’t like these ideas because they still can potentially pollute the groundwater, etc.
With more snow in the forecast…
I'm expanding on this idea. Other businesses give refunds or take their product back. So why not the "Pharma folks"? 
With the result that you'd be getting drugs off the streets... or out of bathrooms - for some to steal or accidentally be used by curious toddlers.

Any other ideas friends? 
Or just some warmer weather…