What Should I Do With Expired Medications?
Cruising season is upon us here on the east coast!
Are you one of the hundreds of boats preparing to make the trip south for the winter? If so, then congrats! (I’m jealous) You’re probably in the final stages of preparations and I here to remind you to put cleaning out your medicine cabinet and first aid kits on your to-do list.
Reorganizing and making sure you have all the proper medications you’ll need is a very important step in your preparations. It’s a good idea to go through your medicine cabinet and first aid kits at least once a year and replace anything that has expired – even if you’re not living or traveling on a boat. Expired medications may not work as well as you need them to, which is not a pleasant thought when you’re miles and miles away from a doctor or pharmacy.
But what should you do with all those expired drugs you just found? Here are some tips on the best ways to dispose of unwanted, unused, and expired medications.
Read more: What Should be in Your First Aid Kit
Drug Take Back Programs
This is the preferred way to dispose of all unwanted and expired medications. Programs like this safely remove unwanted and expired medications from your house, no questions asked. There are two programs run by the DEA:
Permanent collection sites/Drop boxes – These are DEA sponsored drop boxes located in or near your community. They’re usually placed inside police stations and municipal buildings. You can find a list of drop boxes near you by visiting the either the DEA or FDA’s website.
Periodic drug take back events – Each year, the DEA sponsors National Drug Take Back Day and many town and communities will host an event where you can drop off old medications.
Some community pharmacies may also assist you in getting rid of unwanted medications. Contact them before heading over so you don’t make a wasted trip if they can’t dispose of them for you.
Disposal at home
If you can’t get your old medications to a drop box or a take back event, the next best thing is to get rid of them at home. Having expired and unwanted medicines sitting around the house (or boat) is asking for trouble. It’s always better to dispose of them than to keep them around because you don’t know what to do with them.
Remember: Drug take back programs are the best and most environmentally safe way to dispose of old medications! Only use the next two options if you absolutely cannot utilize a take back program.
Household garbage – Most medications can be thrown away with your garbage if you follow a few simple steps. Check the FDA’s list of flushable medications first. I’ll go over the flush list in a minute but if your meds aren’t on the list then head on down to step 1.
Remove the medication from its container and mix it with something gross like used coffee grounds or cat litter. Do this with both pills and liquids. This makes it undesirable for children and pets who could find it and it disguises it from potential drug seekers.
Put the mixture into a sealed container or bag of some kind and throw in garbage
Black or scratch out all your personal information on your old prescription label and then throw away. This protects your privacy.
FDA Flush list – I hate that this list exists and that the FDA says it’s ok to flush any medications. Unfortunately, this is the reality of the drug epidemic that is destroying lives and families all across this country. The drugs on this list are medications that have a high potential for abuse – think opioids, fentanyl products, morphine, etc. Flushing these medications removes all possibility that they could end up in the wrong hands. I do want to make it clear that it is not ok to flush anything down the toilet on a boat. Toilets on land go through a waste treatment process before being released back into the environment while toilets on a boat go into your holding tank. You don’t want to contaminate your holding tank and there’s always the chance you could empty it directly overboard if you’re offshore.
Read more: Don’t Leave the Dock Without Your Meds!
But what about the impact on the environment?
Throwing away or flushing medications can have an impact on the environment. That’s why drug take back programs are the best way to go. Medications are already having an impact on our environment but most of the contamination is actually coming from our urine. Most drugs are eliminated from our bodies when we pee. Hundreds of studies are being done to determine what the actual impact of these medication remnants is, but for right now we just don’t know. Just some food for thought the next time you go to grab a pill for something that you may not need, but want to take to feel better faster.
The Bottom Line…
It’s important to clean out your medicine cabinet and first aid kits at least once a year.
Drug take back programs are the preferred way to dispose of old and unwanted medications.
Only dispose of drugs at home when you can’t get to a drop box or drug take back event.
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