I was out walking my dog this afternoon, in a park near my house. Now, this park is across the street from a school, and constantly has kids of all ages in it. There are also kids' soccer games all weekend from May to October, so there is often a lot of trash around, which I pick up as I come to it, as do many of my neighbors, especially those with kids or dogs.
As I came around one end, I saw a small box sitting on a picnic table at one of end of the park that we walk around, and picked it up to throw it away. When I looked at it more closely, it was the box for an Albuterol inhaler, and I'm thinking well, maybe the person took the inhaler out of the box and forgot to throw the box away... after all, the nearest trash can was a good 3 feet away... then I looked in it, and lo and behold, an apparently unopened, unused inhaler. Both the box and the inhaler had prescription labels on them with the person's name... by now, I'm assuming that the person in question is a child. Given the usual composition of the people in the park - mostly kids - I decided to take it with me instead of just dropping it in the trash can.
When I got home, I called the grocery store pharmacy listed on the prescription label, intending to see if there was a reasonable way to get the inhaler back to the owner, or at least to let the owner know what had happened to it. When I asked what I should do with it, the pharmacy tech told me I should tie it in a bag and throw it away, or if I wanted to, I could drop it by the pharmacy; her tone suggested she didn't know why I'd bothered to call. She hung up before I could ask about contacting the person on the label - something I was hoping the pharmacy could, and would, do, as I sincerely hope that they wouldn't give out patients' phone number or other contact information.
I don't know which bothered me more - that the person (presumably child) left the thing there in the first place, or that the pharmacy tech had so little concern about it.
Now, I realize that Albuterol, while a steroid, is not a high-risk drug used for highs the way other drugs are (at least, not that I'm aware of), but the fact remains that it is a controlled substance... am I missing something here, about the behavior of those involved?
As I came around one end, I saw a small box sitting on a picnic table at one of end of the park that we walk around, and picked it up to throw it away. When I looked at it more closely, it was the box for an Albuterol inhaler, and I'm thinking well, maybe the person took the inhaler out of the box and forgot to throw the box away... after all, the nearest trash can was a good 3 feet away... then I looked in it, and lo and behold, an apparently unopened, unused inhaler. Both the box and the inhaler had prescription labels on them with the person's name... by now, I'm assuming that the person in question is a child. Given the usual composition of the people in the park - mostly kids - I decided to take it with me instead of just dropping it in the trash can.
When I got home, I called the grocery store pharmacy listed on the prescription label, intending to see if there was a reasonable way to get the inhaler back to the owner, or at least to let the owner know what had happened to it. When I asked what I should do with it, the pharmacy tech told me I should tie it in a bag and throw it away, or if I wanted to, I could drop it by the pharmacy; her tone suggested she didn't know why I'd bothered to call. She hung up before I could ask about contacting the person on the label - something I was hoping the pharmacy could, and would, do, as I sincerely hope that they wouldn't give out patients' phone number or other contact information.
I don't know which bothered me more - that the person (presumably child) left the thing there in the first place, or that the pharmacy tech had so little concern about it.
Now, I realize that Albuterol, while a steroid, is not a high-risk drug used for highs the way other drugs are (at least, not that I'm aware of), but the fact remains that it is a controlled substance... am I missing something here, about the behavior of those involved?
