Disposing of Drugs

For many years, if I had leftover medication (both prescription and over-the-counter), I did what many people did - dump it into the toilet or the trash. What I didn't realize at the time was that doing so has the potential for the drugs to enter our water supply, killing fish and otherwise contaminating our environment.

I started asking around at pharmacies about how to dispose of expired or unused drugs and nobody seemed to have a good answer for me. Holding onto these drugs in the hopes that I'd find a save disposal method is not necessarily save either. This article in today's Seattle Times explains of the risk of misuse of these drugs:

"Prescription drugs are now involved in most drug deaths in Washington, and one easy place to find them is the home medicine cabinet — often chock-full of leftover Vicodin or Valium tablets from various dental visits, day surgery or bad-back episodes.

Drug counselors and addiction specialists tell stories about repair people surreptitiously snatching a few pills from each bottle. In their own homes, teens might pilfer pills to sell, give to friends or take themselves — often not realizing that mixing drugs or taking them with alcohol can have deadly results."

Apparently, even if you can find a pharmacy or other program that will take back unused drugs, most of them won't take controlled substances, which have the greatest risk of misuse in the wrong hands.

On Saturday, September 25, 2010, the US Department of Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration is coordinating a National Take-Back Day where you can find somewhere local to drop off those drugs, with no ID required, no questions asked.

Please click here to take a look at the DEA's website where you can enter your zipcode for the nearest location to you for returning these drugs on Saturday - an easy step to safeguard our loved ones and our environment.

 

 

Comments

[Daria Boissonnas]

I love it! I just wrote an article for my blog about this very event and set it to post tomorrow.

It can be scary to learn what water treatment plants are NOT taking out of the water. Thanks Sue!

[Sue Mariconda]

Daria, I'm typing a follow-up post right now about this and something Seattle is doing about it. I grew up pretty much being taught that if you throw something down the sewer, it was the same as throwing it in the garbage, and I would use it the same as I'd use a garbage can. I was shocked to hear how wrong that teaching was!