What to do with expired medications?
By: Barbara Lipkin
Most of us tend to wonder what to do with old perspriptions. Maybe you didn’t finish your pills or have left over creams. Go to www.disposeMyMeds.org, an online resource to help you to find medication disposal programs at the local independent community pharmacy near you.
In addition to proper disposal, you can help prevent drug misuse and abuse each time you request and take your prescriptions. Once you have taken your prescriptions home, remember to keep them out of the sight and reach of children, and avoid taking them in front of children, since they tend to mimic adults. Never give your medications to anyone else or take someone else’s medications.
And remember to take you medicine as directed. A survey released by the National Community Pharmacists Association found that an astounding three-quarter of adults do not always take their prescription medicine as directed. Many forget to take a medication, take less than the prescribed dosage, or stop taking it before the supply runs out. In more than half the cases, the patients made these decisions without talking to a health care professional. Experts estimate that this patient non-adherence costs the United States nearly $100 billion per year in extra medical costs, including hospital visits, doctor visits, lab tests, and nursing home admissions.
Don’t throw them in the trash or flush them down the toilet. According to the website, more than 100 different pharmaceuticals have been detected in lakes, rivers, reservoirs and streams throughout the world.
Pharmaceuticals are being detected in the environment and there is genuine concern that these compounds, in the small concentrations that they’re at, could be causing impacts to human health or to aquatic organisms.
A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans.1
The closest drop off to us on their web site is Key Pharmacy 12660 Riverside Dr., Valley Village 818-509-3630
EwingSIR does not guarantee information contained in this blog, readers are encouraged not to rely solely on this information and to do their own independent research of facts contained herein. Blog information was obtained from independent sources that we do not endorse, and we do not investigate this information for accuracy.
