AUGUSTA - On Tuesday, Rep. Lori Gramlich, D-Old Orchard Beach, introduced a proposal to prevent overdose deaths by ensuring unused prescription medications are properly disposed of when an in-home hospice patient passes away.
"Because opioid medications are often used to manage pain for hospice patients, unused medications are frequently left behind when a patient passes away," Gramlich told the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee at a public hearing on the bill. "But in most states, including Maine, hospice employees cannot or do not assist in the disposal of these medications. As a result, powerful prescription drugs are left in the hands of grieving family members or in medicine cabinets."
Gramlichs proposal is named for Trip Wilson, a South Portland teenager who died from an accidental overdose after discovering medication that had been prescribed to a family member and was never properly and safely discarded.
"I am living every parent's worst nightmare by losing my child in such a tragic and unexpected way. I should be watching my son graduate high school and preparing for college," said Kim Wilson, Trip's mother. "Instead I am pouring over data about an out-of-control epidemic and preparing for a public hearing. I am moving forward by memorializing my son through legislation that can prevent this tragedy from happening to anyone else. We need to do everything we can to assure that no other family has to lose loved ones to easy access to deadly medications. The state has a real opportunity to address one small part of this problem, and that would be to assure that these medications are properly disposed of when home hospice patients die."
Maine saw a record 502 deaths caused by drug overdoses in 2020, an average of 42 deaths per month. The public health crisis shows no signs of slowing, with preliminary data indicating as many as 58 Mainers died from drug overdoses in January 2021.
Gramlich is a longtime social worker and public health advocate who is currently serving her second term in the Maine House. She is a member of the Taxation Committee and the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
Contact: Jackie Merrill [Gramlich], c. 812-1111