The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has partnered with the U.S. Postal Service to provide prepaid mail-back envelopes for people who receive opioid prescriptions in an outpatient setting. The move will hopefully address the safe disposal of leftover or unused opioid analgesic drugs.

FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert M. Califf said in a press release that the agency is striving to address the overdose crisis.

“We believe these efforts will not only increase convenient disposal options for many Americans, but also reduce unfortunate opportunities for nonmedical use, accidental exposure, and potential new cases of opioid disorder,” he said. “We are pleased to take this first critical step with the U.S. Postal Service.”

The agency sent notice to all manufacturers of opioid analgesics used in outpatient settings that they will be required to submit the proposed modification to the Opioid Analgesic Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (OA REMS) within 180 days of the date of the modification letter. It’s expected that the modification for REMS will be approved in 2024.

According to MedPage Today, the plan provides another option — along with flushing, pharmacy collection kiosks, take-back events, and others — to safely dispose of unused opioids. When implemented, outpatient pharmacies and other dispensers will have the option to order pre-paid envelopes from opioid manufacturers that they can give to patients. The REMS modification also requires manufacturers to help educate patients about the safe disposal of these drugs that often dangerously fall into the hands of children and vulnerable adults.

A recent study reported that 9.7 million kids and adults used prescription painkillers for non-medical purposes in 2019, and nearly 50,000 accidental opioid deaths occurred from 2010 to 2018. The mail-back envelopes will be nondescript, fit for this purpose, and can safely and securely transport unused medicine to a location where they will be destroyed, said the FDA.