How should you dispose of old prescriptions?

Flush them down the toilet?  Leave them in the medicine cabinet?  Save them for another time?  Share with a needy friend?

While some narcotic painkillers should be flushed down the toilet, most prescription medicine should be combined with a substance like kitty litter, coffee grounds, or animal waste, put in a closed container, and disposed of in the garbage.

This prevents dangerous medicines from being available to teenagers and others who might abuse them.  At the same time, it keeps most of them from entering American waterways where they could harm fish and wildlife. Further, it avoids children or pets from accidentally ingesting them.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration reports that 1 in 5 teenagers abuses someone else's prescription medications.  Over half say they got the drugs from friends or family for free.

Dr. Irene Ruhoy of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas studied medicines left in the homes of 475 people who died in 2005.  She found 3,600 prescriptions of controlled substances, nearly 8 per person.

Office of National Drug Control Policy Guidelines

Guidelines from the Office of National Drug Control Policy say:

• Take all unused, unneeded or unnecessary drugs out of their original containers and throw them in the trash.
• Mix them with an undesirable substance such as kitty litter or coffee grounds and put them in a sealed bag or can to keep them from being diverted and abused.
• Flush them down the toilet only if the label or accompanying instructions tell you to do so.
• If there is one in your community, take advantage of a pharmaceutical take-back program to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal.

SMARXT for Disposal of Old Prescriptions Guidelines

The US Fish and Wildlife Service partnered with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) to encourage the proper disposal of prescription medications.  Their new program SMARXT DISPOSAL publicizes the danger to waterways of flushing old prescription drugs down the toile to dispose of old prescriptions.

They suggest that you:

• DO NOT FLUSH medications unless specifically instructed to by the label or the pharmacist.
• Remove all personal identifying information and labels from containers.
• Crush solid medicine or dissolve it in water and add it to kitty litter or another substance that makes it less appealing to children, pets, or a potential abuser.
• Check for a community site where medications are collected for safe disposal.
• Doctors and pharmacists warn that prescription drugs should be used only by the person for whom they were prescribed.  Never share your prescriptions.

The FDA provides additional information on where and how to dispose of unused medicine.

How to Dispose of Old Prescription Medications

In short:

• When no longer needed, dispose of prescription drugs safely to avoid abuse, accidental ingestion by children or pets, or damage to the environment.
• Don't store unneeded or expired prescription drugs.
• Don't share them with others.