How Best to Dispose of Unused Medication?

[mommylamb]

One of my colleagues just found out that her 20 something year old son got hooked on Oxycontin after an accident when he hurt his knee. DH and I were talking about it last night and he remembered that we had filled a prescription for Oxycontin for him last year when he had a hernia operation. He only took one or two pills, and then was fine with regular OTC pain medication, so he never finished the prescription and apparently it has been sitting in our medicine cabinet ever since. Not that I'm overly worried about it being there, but it's certainly something I don't really want to keep around. I'm reticent to flush it because I don't like having those sorts of things getting into the ground water and what not. This may be a stupid question, but what do you do with old prescriptions if you aren't going to finish them?

[kristenk]

Our community has a few household hazardous waste collection events throughout the year. There's also a place you can drop it off at other times during the year. They accept e-waste, paint, oil, herbicides, pesticides, cleaners, pharmaceuticals, fluorescent bulbs, batteries, and printer cartridges.

We just store up old/expired meds in a plastic bag and drop them off on the designated day.

[the2bobs]

throw it in the trash, do not flush down toilet or down the drain--unless you are going to dispose of as hazardous waste as mentioned by PP

[elektra]

Ok, maybe I'm a drug addict in waiting, but I purposely keep my old oxycodone prescription in my medicine cabinet in case I may really need it. For instance, I had some horrible back pain right before I was supposed to take a flight somewhere for work. I luckily was able to get into the doc and get some medicine but what if I wasn't able to?
I mean I know you shouldn't just take pain meds but I guess I do what I have to do to get by sometimes, especially when it comes to catching flights for work. I totally get that I could have been stranded in another country with a kidney stone or something but it was a risk I was willing to take at the time in order to not miss my meetings.
Anyway, rambling!

I remember when the tylenol recalls were happening, they said to just throw the old medicine into the trash. It was the best, safest thing to do. You are not supposed to flush it.

[Momof3Labs]

I keep them until they expire, then throw them in the trash still in their bottle. The recommendation is that you do NOT flush them or rinse it down the sink. Add something yucky to it to discourage anyone from helping themselves - like add kitty litter or sawdust to liquid meds and any gross liquid to pills (vinegar? I dunno), then cap them back up and throw in the trash.

[lisa928]

Any pharmacy should take it back. Obviously not for money back or to reuse, but to dispose of.

[ShayleighCarsensMom]

Please don't throw it in the trash...it will pollute the ground and water.
You can take any unused/expired medication (OTC or prescription) to almost any pharmacy and they'll properly dispose of it for you.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Call your county, they should be able to help steer in the right direction.

[mommylamb]

Sounds like the path of least resistance and guilt is the pharmacy. Thanks for the suggestions.

And, Electra, I don't think you're a addict in waiting for keeping it around for those circumstances. We've been pretty lucky (knock on wood) in that neither of us has been in many situations where we've needed real pain meds, so in my head I feel like it will never happen, which probably isn't the most realistic thing.

[Mommy2Abby]

Good timing! Apparently September 25th is a nationwide drug take back day -- see the link below for a search engine for a location near you.

http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/takeback/