You’ve opened your medicine chest to see a conga line of prescription bottles snaking their way across the shelves. While some are “fresh” and necessary for your good health, others have expired or weren’t a good fit.
Before you flush them or toss in the trash, it’s important to learn how to dispose of medication — and its containers — properly to avoid harm to others or the environment.
A new U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency rule — Final Rule for the Disposal of Controlled Substances — makes disposing of these meds easier. It allows you to bring unused medications to pharmacies, clinics and hospitals that agree to accept them.
“There are many community drug take-back programs that let the public bring unused prescription medications to a central location for proper disposal,” says Cinthia Nieves, COO of Lombard-based ALC Home Health Care.
The act also permits long-term-care facilities to do the same on behalf of their residents. If you live in a continuing care retirement community, check first with your health care management team to learn the best way to dispose of your used or unneeded medicines.
Public health issue
Managing meds in your own home presents some challenges. According to the DEA, unused medication in homes is a public health and safety concern. The fact that they are readily available makes them susceptible to accidental ingestion, theft, misuse, and abuse.
While the number of Americans abusing prescription drugs dropped in 2013 to 6.5 million from 6.8 million in 2012, that is still more than double the number of those using heroin, cocaine, and hallucinogens like LSD and Ecstasy combined, according to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
In addition, 22,134 Americans died in 2011 from overdoses of prescription medications, including 16,651 from narcotic painkillers, reveals the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Remarking on the new DEA rule, agency administrator Michele Leonhart says, “These new regulations will expand the public’s options to safely and responsibly dispose of unused or unwanted medications. The new rules will allow for around-the-clock, simple solutions to this ongoing problem. Now everyone can easily play a part in reducing the availability of these potentially dangerous drugs.”
To find an authorized collector in your community, call the DEA Office of Diversion Control’s Registration Call Center at 800-882-9539 or visit www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov. Ask for or search for “controlled substance public disposal locations.”
Environmental harm?
Recent reports note that trace amounts of medicines, such as birth control pills and anti-depressants, find their way into the water supply through flushing. However, disposal of these medicines by flushing contributes only a small fraction of the total amount of medicine found in the water, according to the FDA website, fda.gov. The majority of medicines found in the water system are a result of the body’s natural routes of drug elimination in urine or feces.
According to the FDA, scientists have found no evidence of harmful effects to human health from medicines in the environment since they are so diluted. Based on the available data, FDA believes that the known risk of harm to humans from accidental exposure to these medicines far outweighs any potential risk to humans or the environment from flushing them.
To flush
Often disposal directions are provided when you pick up your prescription. “If not, you can speak with your pharmacist or physician regarding the right way to dispose of medicine,” says Nieves.
Some medications actually pose less harm if flushed. The FDA warns a small number of these may be especially harmful and, in some cases, fatal, with just one dose if used by someone other than for whom prescribed. Because of the risk, the agency says flushing these drugs is the best means of disposal.
Visit fda.gov for a list of unused medicines that you should flush down the sink or toilet to help prevent danger to people and pets.
To trash
Nieves says that if no medicine take-back program is available in your area, you can follow the FDA recommended steps to dispose of most medicines in the household trash:
Mix medicines (do NOT crush tablets or capsules) with an unpalatable substance such as kitty litter or used coffee grounds;
Place the mixture in a container such as a sealed plastic bag; and throw the container in your household trash.
Vials too
Before throwing out empty pill bottles or other empty medicine packaging, be sure to scratch out all personal information on the prescription label to make it unreadable.
Too, before you recycle your prescription container, make sure that it’s empty. Check to see if your recycling center accepts these plastic containers or if your pharmacy has a take-back program for empty vials. If your recycling center can’t process the vials and your pharmacy doesn’t have a take-back program, place empty containers in the garbage.
