By Bill Weiers, Pharmacist, SMSC Pharmacy
Do you have pills leftover from your last dental procedure? Are you saving an antibiotic in case you develop another sinus infection? While keeping remaining pills may seem like a good idea, unused pills are a public safety risk. Leftover pills may lead to accidental poisonings, misuse, overdose, and theft.
Medicine often looks like candy, especially to a child. Their size, developmental stage, and mouthing behaviors put them at a special risk for poisoning from medications. Children are also adept at opening child-resistant containers, which should never be relied upon to prevent poisoning.
Drugs are misused when they are not taken as directed. While it may have been safe for you to take a prescribed medication for nausea, it may not be safe for everyone in your household. Drug interactions, dosage verification, and disease states have been analyzed by the pharmacist only for the person prescribed the medication–not for anyone else.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 14,675 people died last year of opioid overdose or poisoning. It’s not possible to calculate how many could have been prevented, but many overdoses are caused by leftover medication getting into the wrong hands.
You may be thinking that your medication is safe since you keep it out of reach or in your own home. Nobody in your family would have a need for your medications, right? What about your babysitter who wants just one or two Adderall to help them study for that exam tomorrow? The housekeeper or pet watcher may notice that you never used up your Percocet after surgery. Most teenagers who abuse prescription drugs get them from family, friends, and the home medicine cabinet.
To reduce the risks associated with unused medications, they must be disposed of properly.
- SMSC Pharmacy has a free drop-box onsite where customers can dispose of unused medications. We accept everything except liquids, aerosols, inhalers, needles, or syringes. In addition, many law enforcement agencies provide drop-boxes through a program called “Take it to the Box.”
- If you cannot make it to a drop-box location, mix drugs with an undesirable substance, such as cat litter or coffee grounds, and put them in the garbage so they end up in a regulated disposal site. Dumping medications into the sink or toilet can harm the environment.
- Never place sharps, such as needles or syringes, loose in the garbage. Visit safeneedledisposal.org to locate sharps collection sites within Minnesota. If you need to dispose of sharps in your normal trash, first place them in a sturdy, plastic container, such as a laundry detergent bottle, then label as “Household sharps.”
Proper disposal of unused drugs saves lives and protects the environment. We must do our part to prevent the public safety risks associated with unused medications. Please utilize the services offered by SMSC Pharmacy and others to properly dispose of your unused medications.
