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SimplySpaztastic

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GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo. — A Colorado company is trying to further childproof the childproof medicine bottle.

Safe Rx, based in Greenwood Village, is partnering with Wheat Ridge-based Rx Plus Pharmacies to test a bottle that's extra secure.

"This is what we call an LPV, which is a 'locking prescription vial,'" said Safe Rx President and CEO Milton Cohen. "This is an idea whose time has come, but whose time really came about a decade to 15 years ago."

Cohen is announcing the pilot program at the State Capitol on Tuesday morning. His company's product has a lid that looks similar to a bike lock combination.

"All the patient has to do is line up the combination code and take the cap off and take their dose," said Cohen.

In May, the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office made an arrest and shut down a secret Facebook page called "Fly Society 420." Dozens of middle school and high school students in Jefferson and Denver Public Schools were found to be buying and selling marijuana, Adderall, OxyContin and Ecstasy on the site.

"The number one source for teen prescription drug abuse, nationally and here in Colorado, is pilfering from our parents' medicine cabinets. So this little LPV prevents pilfering," said Cohen. "If this little LPV were used nationwide, we'd prevent five million kids — five million — from initiating abuse over the next 10-year period."

Childproof pill bottles became the norm after the 1970 Poison Prevention Packaging Act required that some household substances be locked in childproof packaging.

No matter how strong the substance, prescription pills are almost always packaged in that type of container.

"We've been sending the equivalent of heroin home in containers that any 6-year-old can open," said Cohen.

The four-digit LPV code would be chosen by the patient, but the bottle would be supplied, programmed and distributed by the pharmacy.

"This is less than a dollar more a 'script," said Cohen, when asked to compare the price of the LPV to traditional childproof bottles.

He said the LVP would be offered as an up-sell to the patient during the pilot program.

The state of Illinois legislated a pilot program that started in January. Pharmacies that dispense Schedule II drugs with Hydrocodone, like OxyContin, can use a different type of LPV to fill or refill the prescription. The state funded the program with $150,000 through the end of the year.

On July 22, the President signed the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The legislation authorized the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to address the prescription opioid abuse and heroin use crises.

No grant money is involved in the LPV that Safe Rx is making, which is pilfer resistant and tamper evident.

"This vial is much higher impact plastic. It's been designed and engineered to require a tool to break open, so think your hammer, your hacksaw or your screwdriver to pry off the top," said Cohen. "If someone pries it off with a screwdriver, one of more of these engagement pins will fail, and then the next time the patient opens it, they'll see that visual cue and know that it's been tampered with."

Just how will anyone know whether the pill bottle is actually making a difference? Cohen said his pilot program will involve patients that agree to waive certain HIPAA privacy. They're hoping to issue these containers to patients needing Schedule II narcotics with children ages 12-25 at home.

"How can you quantify stopping pilfering versus it was never going to happen in the first place?" asked Zelinger. "We'll be able to test before and after overdoses. We'll be able to test before and after ER admissions," said Cohen.

Cohen says they'll have several factors to weigh in terms of measuring the pilot program's success.

"We'll have a lot of survey data, tremendous amount of conversion data; in terms of how many consumers are really willing to pay for this," said Cohen. "Ninety-six percent of parents with teens in the household that we've surveyed said they would prefer their controlled substance be dispensed in an LPV. Fifty-three percent of those parents actually said they would switch to a chain that dispensed an LPV."
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/new...-secure-medicine-bottle-to-curb-teen-drug-use

As a parent (of a preteen) who takes medication classified as a controlled substance, I would be inclined to switch to a pharmacy that offers these bottles as well.

My best friend has been struggling with addiction. After seeing her overdose 2x in the past month, on her mom's medication, I can absolutely see the benefits of a bottle like this.

This is a brilliant idea!
 
What's to stop an addict from bashing it with a sledge hammer? It may make pilfering obvious, but it won't stop anyone determined to steal meds.
 
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What's to stop an addict from bashing it with a sledge hammer? It may make pilfering obvious, but it won't stop anyone determined to steal meds.

while I agree if someone wants it bad enough they will get into this bottle BUT if its a pain for little Johnny to do, esp. if its to try a pill a first time, it could be a deterrent. For the buck extra I would order it.

I dont think it will completely get rid of the problem - BUT I do think it would be a good enough of a deterrent for a good sized group of people
 
Seriously...they think this is going to work.

Like unless the bottle is attached to a four hundred pound anvil I see nothing but wishful

thinking...and even if they did attach his bottle to an anvil...where there is a will there

is a way, I've seen some really determined addicts in my day...and here, like every other minute.
 
As an older person with only one good working hand, child proof bottles are absolute hell to open. I have signed documentation, swearing I have no children in the home so they'll put the pop tops on and I still consistently get the child proof ones, I've taken to saving the pop off tops to replace the child proof ones with when I manage to finally get the lid off after working at it for 20 minutes.

There is a special place in hell for whoever thought up pills in the boxes with the plastic push outs, first of all I can't the box open and then I can't get the pills out. I usually end up cutting the box apart, which really spoils the child proofness of it.

I think if you have pills that need to be kept away from children you need to have a lock box to keep them in. Of course this won't deter an addict but it will keep the kids out of it.
 
What's to stop an addict from bashing it with a sledge hammer?
Nothing.
It may make pilfering obvious
:shrug: I learned how to open locks much like that while showing no signs of tampering at all.

Too, there's only four dials with 10 numbers per dial, meaning there's only 10,000 possible combinations. Fort Knox it ain't; a determined young'un, if he or she can get their hands on it for a reasonable amount of time, can try every combination possible until they hit the one that lets it pop open.

How long a period of time? At 50 combinations per minute, that's about 3 hours worth. At 15 combinations a minute, that is still only 10 hours.

--Al
 
It might not take that long at all if they choose the easiest combinations like some people choose their passwords like, 1111, 1234, 5678, 0000, 2468, or the like, and then use the same one for all their bottles.

Of course I'd have to have it all written down somewhere or use the same one, which would pretty much make all the child proofing non-existent.

That's why I still think a lock box is the answer.
 
Idk about this idea?
Seems like if a person really needs to protect their meds, they can keep them in a safe-- one combination to remember rather than a bunch of separate locked bottles.

I just imagine a bunch of elderly people being locked out of their own meds bc they can't remember all the codes??
 
I think some of you missed the point. It's not about making it impossible for kids to get into drugs (we all know if there's a will, there's a way and if you want to open a child proof container, give it to a child) it's about making it obvious they've done it.

The article says it's easy enough to get the bottle open..but breaking it open leaves noticeable traces. Meaning teens cant sneak in, grab a few pills and mom and dad aren't any the wiser. Now their parents will know when they've tried to steal pills.

It also stops really small children from being able to open containers and get into stuff. We have more than a few stories of toddlers breaking into methadone containers. Those would almost completely stop with bottles like these.

Schedule II drugs are recommenced to be locked in a lock box. Anyone given a script for one is advised of that, and yet most people still don't lock them away.
 
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