Poll: What do you do with expired medication?

[0roo0roo]

sewers are better off filled with antibiotics



we need a plague sooner or later

 

[BoomerD]

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/prescription_drug_disposal

Resolving to clean out your medicine cabinet this year is a good idea. Hanging onto unused medications can increase the chances of taking the wrong one, and old drugs can lose their potency, reports the Harvard Heart Letter. But have you ever thought about where the medicine will end up? Scientists are finding everything from aspirin to Zoloft in our streams, rivers, and lakes.

The traditional advice has been to flush unused drugs down the toilet or put them in the trash. Neither is a good method, says the Harvard Heart Letter. Drugs can kill helpful bacteria in septic systems and pass largely untouched through sewage treatment plants. Children and animals can get into drugs tossed in the trash, and once in landfills, drugs can trickle into groundwater

 

[Aikouka]

The local city has old drug collection days where you can deposit your old drugs.

What about the expiration date on isopropyl alcohol? Does that represent how long the alcohol will last even in the sealed container or is it another sham?

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I usually hang onto them unless it's ridiculously past it.

 

[irishScott]

You aren't supposed to throw it in the garbage, not sure but it may even be against the law to do so in some places. Either way, it's not a secret that lots of people do. People also don't pay attention to expiry dates on medication and continue to take them. My mother is like this, though she doesn't take much beyond Tylenol and such occasionally. She just hates throwing anything out. What do you do?

Don't know how it is in Canada, TMK here in the states so long as it isn't a controlled substance (ie: narcotic pain killer) you can just chuck it.

 

[sdifox]

Sometimes I find uses for them later. I have a couple of boxes full of oxycontin, hydrocodone,(vicodin) oxycodone, (percodan/percocet) and diazepam. (valium) I took a couple of the vicodin last year when I had a tooth pulled...other than that, not since I had my knee surgery in 04.
My pain management docs keep giving me the stuff...but I don't take it.

Yes, I'm on long-term disability for back injuries and a FUBAR'D knee.

I don't like pain meds, so I don't generally take anything stronger than Excedrin, aspirin, or ibuprofen...but I have it if I need it.

Anti-biotics are what is always in short supply around here. I generally take all of them when they're prescribed to me...so I never have "half a bottle" for use when I get bronchitis from the flu or a cold...that means I have to go to the doctor to get a script.
Hey...you think the pharmacy would trade me for some opioids?

www.boomerdpainkilleremporium.com

 

[Wyndru]

We just hold on to them. I have the idea in my head that at some point I'll bring them to the pharm, but I know I probably never will.

If they are fun meds (i.e. codones) then CWE and have a fun time :twisted:

 

[IronWing]

Give them to the dog, he'll eat anything.