Ms Foon Hwei Foong from Malaysian Community Pharmacy Guild recalled that about 15 years ago, prior to proper disposal systems and awareness of the serious implications caused by drugs, crushing the medication and flushing down the toilet were considered normal disposal behaviour among patients and consumers. However, she highlighted that unwanted medication that has been disposed on landfills are reabsorbed by water streams and eventually leads back to the water we drink. She posed the question “Imagine if it were psychotropic drugs which end up in our water systems?” 

In response, Dr Saw Pui San, a lecturer from Monash University Malaysia’s School of Pharmacy, brought up example of reports of contraceptive medicine which have been irresponsibly discarded causing sterilisation of fishes in the ecosystem. She also emphasised that antibiotics are strictly regulated prescription medication, and many efforts were made to prevent antibiotic resistance with initiatives to educate the public on responsible use of antibiotics. However, for antibiotics that were leaked into water systems, it could also be causing our resistance to antibiotics as well. 

Mr Amrahi Bin Buang, President of Malaysian Pharmacists Society echoed that in terms of regulations and practice in Malaysia, the laws and policies are in place across all access points of medication distribution. He opined that a lot has been done in terms of policies, beginning with The Malaysian National Medicines Policy (MNPP) which has clearly stated the measurements and governance in place for medication safety. Mr Amrahi continued to clarify that ultimately, the problem circles back to being educated in health and medication literacy which is lacking within the population, and to educate the public, the industry needs a medium to act as an educator for the public. 

On this note, Mr Amrahi pointed out that pharmacists have to be at the forefront as guardians of medicine. Instead of working in silos, community pharmacists are strongly encouraged to start working collaboratively not just among one another but also with the industries in the ecosystem as a whole to educate, implement and practice safe medication disposal throughout. Mr Amrahi emphasised saying “Pharmacy is the Health hub of the community and pharmacist are the most accessible health care provider”. 

Mr Ostwin Paw, CEO of Alpro Foundation concurred that in addition to understanding what constitutes as unused or excess medicine, it is imperative for leaders in the industry to kickstart the conversation on the impact and risks of unsafe medication disposal methods on the environment. He explained that the foundation explored comparatively how other countries were implementing their versions of preventive measures and how locally, the industry could all play a part in adopting safer medication disposal practices in Malaysia moving forward.