Google is pitching in to help fight the nation’s opioid crisis by helping people find drug disposal locations via Google Maps.
“By bringing opioid disposal site information to Google Maps, Americans are only a search away from helping to address the opioid crisis,” said Ed Simcox, Health and Human Services’ chief technology officer: . This type of consumer empowerment–providing easily accessible data–is the kind of innovation needed to improve healthcare.”
A sample of drug disposal locations from Google
Also partnering in the effort are the Drug Enforcement Agency and private partners CVS and Walgreens.
The maps were unveiled Thursday.
Some 3,500 disposal locations are already available, and more will be added, Google said.
“This means that users can type in queries like ‘drug drop off near me’ or ‘medication disposal near me’ and Google Maps will display permanent disposal locations at their local pharmacy, hospital, or government building so they can quickly and safely discard unneeded medication,” Google explained.
Google noted that “over 130 people in this country die [a day] from an opioid overdose and Americans are now more likely to die from an opioid overdose than a car accident. Addiction to opioids can start after just five days of use, and the majority of prescription drug abuse (53%) starts with drugs obtained from family and friends. That’s why Google wants to help people get rid of leftover pills that are sitting in people’s medicine cabinets.”
