Upstate Medical University is launching a program it hopes can help make a dent in the opioid epidemic and accidental drug overdoses.
Upstate Pharmacy Director Eric Balotin said once a patient goes home, prescription drugs, especially painkillers, can be deadly when accessed by people who shouldn’t be using them. So the pharmacy will start a program called Safe RX, which makes it harder for someone to get into a pill bottle.
"What we’ve come up with is a prescription bottle that has a lockable code," Balotin said. "It upgrades from what the current system is to a much better lockable system, to where you just can’t get access.”
Patients who are prescribed the medication choose their own code, which will open the bottle cap. Balotin said the program is starting small, with only pediatric patients. Once the kinks are worked out, it will expand to other patients who are discharged from Upstate.
