Print this page
Email a friend
Was this information helpful?
(0 votes)What do you think? Click "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" to vote!
If you have more to say, post a comment below!
Q. How do you advise people to dispose of their prescription and over the counter drugs safely? I worry about this stuff being flushed down the toilet and contaminating the water supply.
A. Flushing unused or outdated medications down the toilet is a bad idea for that very reason. The government is suggesting that unused drugs, especially potent pain relievers or sleeping pills, be mixed with something nasty before putting them in the trash. Used kitty litter has been proposed to make the pills unpalatable to children, pets and drug addicts.
One veterinarian complained to us, however, that mixing drugs with used kitty litter is dangerous for dogs and some other animals that find used kitty litter appetizing. Ask a pharmacist about other ways to dispose of unused medicines.
Many hazardous waste collection sites take unused medications for safe disposal. Call your local health department for more information.
When my Mom passed away, due to pancreatic cancer, Hospice's procedure was to throw the pain medication down the toilet so it didn't get in the hands of the wrong people. My parents had well water... this really concerned me.
I'm a pharmacist and where I work we dispose of medication as follows. First we dissolve the tablets in a small amount of either alcohol or water. Most medication will dissolve in one or the other. Sometimes we need to leave the tablets overnight to dissolve. After dissolving, the tablets form a slurry. We pour this slurry onto paper towels or a newspaper and then throw it away. It's not a perfect solution but it's the best one we've found.
Ask your physician. Mine takes unopened samples and other medications. I assume they are sent back to the company. I have also brought them to toxic waste sites.
When my sister died of cancer, the hospice care workers flushed all of her leftover medications including oxycodine. I was really, really concerned about this later but too consumed with grief to think about it much at the time. I have been thinking about contacting hospice care about this issue.
There are studies showing that fish consume too much of our residual drugs, particularly hormones. It looks like the FDA would step in. I know the hospice workers were required, but by whom, to dispose of the drugs in this way. The next time I have any leftover drugs, I will use the method recommended by the other poster, the pharmacist.
When my mother-in-law died several years ago, we called her doctor's office to find out if recently filled prescriptions could be given away to patients who have limited means to pay for them. In her case there were expensive inhalers she used for emphysema as well as some others. He was happy to take them for that purpose and said they would be a big help to needy patients. It can't hurt to ask. Just be sure they have been properly stored and, as in the case of the inhalers and others that are personal in nature, not previously used.
I have taken otc and prescription drugs that have expired to my doctor and asked her to dispose of it with their hazardous waste.
I, too, was taken by surprise when, immediately after my father's death, a Hospice worker stood at the kitchen sink with hot water running and emptied a full bottle of morphine and other drugs down the drain. No questions were asked about where this water would go. In our case, it went into a septic tank. In cities, however, it would go into the municipal water supply. Now multiply this activity and add hormones, chemicals and anything else you want to flush, and there you have a ready-to-dispense concoction for the general public, including vulnerable children. Most water purification systems are not designed to remove all such elixirs.