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For many years, safety experts have told us to flush expired and unused prescription medications by flushing them down the toilet. We were always told that keeping prescription drugs around the home was a very unsafe practice. There were many instances of these drugs being accidentally taken by another member in the family, being taken by small children, or used by some as recreational drugs.
Flushing drugs down the toilet was always thought of as the safest and most effective way to get rid of our out dated prescription drugs.
Now days, there is a controversy over prescription drug disposal between the Federal Government and environmentalists. The government wants us to continue to flush controlled substances down the toilet. This measure helps to keep them out of the hands of drug addicts. The environmentalists are on the opposite side of the issue and don’t want any drugs flushed down the toilet.
More and more research is finding that the environmentalists are correct and that there is serious environmental harm being done by this practice. Our municipally sewage and waste water processing plants were not designed to filter these drugs, and they are ending up in our ground water and in the surface water. Large amounts of antibiotics that are getting into the processing plants are killing the very beneficial bacteria that are needed to operate the plants.
As far back at 1999, studies done by the US Geological Survey showed that common drugs were found in 80% of our streams..
So how does one properly dispose of medications?
1. Continue to take the medications that are prescribed, for the full length of the time prescribed. So often medications, especially antibiotics, are discontinued when we feel better. A full course of antibiotics are necessary to cure the problem for which they were prescribed.
2. Do not discard medications in the toilet unless specifically directed on the label.
3. You can dispose of prescription medications in your household trash, but first you should take them out of their original container and mix them with trash. This should make them unappealing to young children and to pets. You want to be sure they are not recognized as medications in the event some undesirables decide to go through your trash. Put them in some sort of container, plastic bag or even mix them with kitty litter to keep them from leaking out of the garbage can.
4. Be sure and remove the labels or make them unreadable. This protects your identity and your personal health information.
5. Some pharmacies offer prescription disposal services as a community service.
6. Some municipalities offer drug disposal programs as a part of their hazardous waste disposal program.
7. Over-the-counter medications such as cold remedies, vitamins, medicated ointments, lotions, prescription creams and drug samples should also be disposed of properly.
8. Veterinarian prescribed medications need to be disposed of properly.
9. As a reminder, never share your prescriptions with others. What may be good for you may be dangerous or deadly for another person.
The disposal of narcotics and other controlled substances create a special problem. U. S. Federal law requires that these types of drugs always be under lock and key but Congress is looking to amend this bill to allow pharmacies to take back controlled prescription drugs.
As more and more information becomes available regarding the dangers of this practice, programs will begin to show up that will make it easier for consumers to dispose of medications in a proper |
