Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday that fighting the opioid addiction crisis means ongoing efforts to collect drugs that are stored in people’s homes, which he said will help ensure these addictive drugs aren’t taken by children.
“We’ve got to take back extra drugs that shouldn’t be sitting in your medicine cabinet,” Azar said on Fox News. “Get them out of there so your kids or you are not tempted to use them.”
Late last year, the Drug Enforcement Agency said a record 456 tons of expired or unused prescription drugs were handed over to officials during October’s Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
That’s just one of a number of steps Azar recommended. He said a nationwide effort is needed to retrain doctors in the U.S. so they are able to prescribe alternatives to opioids, which have led to addiction and death around the country.
“We’ve got to retrain our doctors,” he said.
“We’ve got to reduce the number opioid pills that individuals get,” Azar added. “Even if it’s appropriate for someone to get an opioid prescription for, say, a wisdom tooth or knee surgery, we’ve got to reduce how many they get.”
Azar said the Trump administration is also pushing for steeper penalties against people who distribute opioids.
“If you’re involved in the distribution of illicit drugs, or if you are improperly using, selling, distributing even legal opioids, there should be serious penalties attached, and serious enforcement attached to all of that,” he said.
Azar spoke just before he, President Trump and other officials are headed to New Hampshire, where Trump will deliver a speech on opioids.
