Getting rid of old prescriptions?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I went to our local pharmacy to get rid of old drugs but they wouldn't take half of them because they are "controlled substances" - expired useless controlled substances, but still apparently illegal for them to take.  I was told to try the police station?  And the other half they said I'd  have to take across town to another pharmacy because ours doesn't take them.  Sigh.  And here I was trying to do the right thing.  How are you supposed to get rid of old prescriptions?  I miss the old days when  you could just flush them.  (Don't yell at me - I know why we can't and I don't want to poison the fishies but it sure was easier when we were ignorant!)

[Jean in Newcastle]

Is the police station for all prescriptions or just the controlled substances?

 

[StephanieZ]

The DEA and DoJ hold take-back drug collections periodically. You just missed the fall date last week! :( If you google it, and keep your eye out, you can find a site in the Spring.

 

FWIW, it is a PITA for everyone! We own a vet hospital, and we can legally dispose of expired/etc prescription meds easily, but for controlled drugs that expire on the shelf or are otherwise unusable, we have to use a "reverse distributor" and pay significant $$ to get rid of them! It is a total hassle, too, so we end up just collecting the expired controlled drugs in a section of our controlled drug lock box . . . waiting for the day when we get organized enough (or too much volume accumulates) to find a reverse distributor to pay to take them away! 

 

So, unless you feel the drugs are dangerous in your home for some reason, I'd just put them in a clearly labeled Ziploc (still in the original containers), and save them for the next take-back day.

 

You can safely dispose of them yourself, too, if you feel OK about doing that.

Get an old plastic bottle from detergent or cooking oil or whatever, throw the meds in there loose, add some nasty liquid like a bit of the liquid detergent or dish soap, slosh it around for a minute to dissolve the pills. (This step prevents anyone from using them if they dig them out of your trash.)

Then toss in enough cat litter to soak up the meds.

Then seal the container, and toss it in your trash.

(That is essentially the approved way for hospitals/etc to dispose of left over meds, and is what we do for non-controlled drugs.)

 

HTH

[StephanieZ]

http://www.awarerx.org/get-informed/find-disposal-information/option-2-dea-nationwide-drug-take-back-sites

 

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

[LaxMom]

Is the police station for all prescriptions or just the controlled substances?

The police stations here take everything. There was just a news story on the other night about the disposal program and they were interviewing a woman who was very excited to finally be able to dispose of unused antibiotics responsibly.

[texasmama]

You can mix them in coffee grounds in a ziplock.

[mom2bee]

Wow, I didn't know that we couldn't flush/rinse them anymore...Perhaps a Dr. office, hospital or police station?

[Orthodox6]

I went to our local pharmacy to get rid of old drugs but they wouldn't take half of them because they are "controlled substances" - expired useless controlled substances, but still apparently illegal for them to take.  I was told to try the police station?  And the other half they said I'd  have to take across town to another pharmacy because ours doesn't take them.  Sigh.  And here I was trying to do the right thing.  How are you supposed to get rid of old prescriptions?  I miss the old days when  you could just flush them.  (Don't yell at me - I know why we can't and I don't want to poison the fishies but it sure was easier when we were ignorant!)

 

It's not for fish safety, but for human safety, is what one reads currently.  All this ends up in the public water supplies. 

 

Police stations often sponsor "destructo days".  Citizens can drop off old medications, car batteries, household chemicals, and all manner of potentially dangerous stuff.

[Orthodox6]

You can mix them in coffee grounds in a ziplock.

 

Then what?  That is not snippy.  I don't know how that passes city requirements any better than disposal in the original bottles.  Is this what your local government recommends?  Thanks!

[texasmama]

Then what? That is not snippy. I don't know how that passes city requirements any better than disposal in the original bottles. Is this what your local government recommends? Thanks!

This is what was recommended by the licensing department for a residential program I worked with. Then the program was told to dispose of the bag in the trash.

[Orthodox6]

This is what was recommended by the licensing department for a residential program I worked with. Then the program was told to dispose of the bag in the trash.

 

I was interested, since your board name hints that you maybe live in Texas, as do I.  I can see this being a possibility, since the Ziploc bag probably won't break down for a few hundred years, if ever, and the coffee grounds would soak up the medicine.  Thanks for answering!  

[texasmama]

I was interested, since your board name hints that you maybe live in Texas, as do I. I can see this being a possibility, since the Ziploc bag probably won't break down for a few hundred years, if ever, and the coffee grounds would soak up the medicine. Thanks for answering!

You're welcome. :)

[Mom-ninja.]

I had no idea pharmacies couldn't take back meds. That seems dumb. What is the reason behind that? It seems a pharmacy should be able to dispose of meds.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I had no idea pharmacies couldn't take back meds. That seems dumb. What is the reason behind that? It seems a pharmacy should be able to dispose of meds.

It seems dumb to me too.  Do they think that pharmacists will break down and sell controlled substances on the black market but police officers definitely won't?  

[StephanieZ]

I had no idea pharmacies couldn't take back meds. That seems dumb. What is the reason behind that? It seems a pharmacy should be able to dispose of meds.

 

Well, what would the pharmacy DO with those meds?

 

Haz waste disposal is not cheap. Disposal of controlled drugs is VERY expensive (probably more than the cost of the drug to start with). Pharmacies are private enterprises. 

 

Someone would have to pay for disposal. Periodically, gov't bodies subsidize disposal, but other than a gov't paying, then you can't really expect private businesses to do it. 

 

And, yes, I suppose they could offer it and charge for it . . . but I can NOT see that being good for their business. People would complain. People wouldn't pay. People would hate the pharmacy. . .

[LostSurprise]

Check with police before disposing with the plastic bag and coffee grounds (at least a phone call). Not every district will allow that. 

 

We have to bring them to the police department now, only the police department. And they have to be open and have someone accept it in person. Fun.  :rolleyes: We've got leftover opiates and psychotropics though so whoopeee. Pharmacies won't take them anymore. The police will take everything (calcium, aspirin, Valium products)

[StephanieZ]

I'd just like to point out that, other than the potential for addiction/abuse, controlled drugs are not, as a class, more dangerous in the garbage stream than non-controlled drugs. So, the rationale for making disposal more complicated for controlled drugs is really about keeping them out of the hands of being diverted for abuse. (If you allowed people to dump high-abuse-potential drugs in your same "take back" barrels, then you have to control those barrels very tightly so that your pharmacy assistant doesn't yank them out and sell them on the corner . . .) 

 

So, IMHO, unless you are a DEA registrant (i.e. a doctor or similar with your own DEA license) or otherwise a licensed health care provider with a license to protect, then I can't see why people would go any more nuts disposing of their 5 left over Percocet tabs than they would tossing out their 5 packs of birth control pills . . . Neither is great in our water stream, but you can easily dispose of them pretty safely using generally approved techniques (as listed above). If you have very large quantities of drugs, or specific drugs which you know are highly hazardous (say, chemotherapeutic medicines, etc), then, sure, save it up and be sure to get it to a take-back program -- *IF* you can safely store it meanwhile. But, having dangerous drugs around the house can be very dangerous to your family if you have a bad combo of vulnerable people (young kids, impulsive teens, mental health issues, etc) and/or poor ability to secure the medications properly. I think you have to balance those risks.

[Tap]

Yep, try the police department for controlled drugs.

[Cindy in FL.]

Our Sheriff's department disposes of controlled substances. For other meds I do the coffee ground method.

[Lanny]

Many chain drug stores (and some supermarkets) here have secure disposal bins. If you were here, you could drop what you want to get rid of into one of those bins and your problem would be solved.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Many chain drug stores (and some supermarkets) here have secure disposal bins. If you were here, you could drop what you want to get rid of into one of those bins and your problem would be solved.

Which is what I had hoped would be the case here!  But alas. . .   

[ThatHomeschoolDad]

Here the police station takes them.

Same here, but it's only certain times of the year. Worth a call.

[LucyStoner]

Which is what I had hoped would be the case here! But alas. . .

Washington state is extra restrictive. My husband's pharmacy doesn't take back drugs either.

 

He says that most Bartell's take the non-controlled substances and the protocol for disposing of controlled substances with a street value is to mix with nasty liquids plus kitty litter or coffee grounds, bag and dump in the trash. This is what the state tells his work to tell patients who ask. He gets asked all the time.

 

The reason for this controlled substance variance/private disposal policy is that that a whole bunch of people's returned controlled substances are a bigger target for theft/sale than any one average household throwing out 8 leftover narcotic pain relief pills. So if the pharmacies took the controlled substances, they'd be creating a draw for either employee theft or armed robbery. And it's not like pharmacies are totally safe from that anyways. The systems in place to reduce theft on the way out would have to be reversed for turned in pills. Cataloging them and entering into inventory control systems would be a nightmare. And most pharmacies have enough to do already just to keep the line moving. Expired drug return for inventory that goes stale is a big enough PITA for most pharmacies.

 

Oh, and there is a website where you can look for turn in spots by zip code:

 

http://www.disposemymeds.org/index.php/pharmacy-locator

[Jean in Newcastle]

Thanks, Lucy. . . I mean, Katie!  I hadn't thought about the drop-offs being theft targets.  

[LMA]

I had inquired about disposal with the pharmacy and the doctor and ended up chasing around without a place to put the meds. A few health professionals told me that is why they just put all of their own extra prescription drugs in the trash. A lot of communities don't even have a once-a-year  disposal. One nurse said that when she asked around to dispose her mother's extra drugs, some people were more concerned that the plastic pill bottles go into the recycling! (My old drugs are still sitting in a top shelf of a cabinet.)