As it says in my “About” page, I do drugs and get paid for it. Drug safety that is. As a general rule, I don’t write about it though. Today is an exception. Consider this a public service announcement.
In 2008, I had some minor surgery where I was given 60 — SIXTY — Oxycontin tablets for pain. I didn’t need very many at all because I am tough. Also because I don’t need to add drug addiction to the list of problems with this ‘temple’ of mine. Plus I really don’t like that out of control feeling I get from serious painkillers.
Still, I ended up with about 55 highly addictive painkillers in a home where my the-15 year old son lived. Jacob is a good kid, but hell, why tempt fate? Ultimately, I managed to get rid of them safely and securely. But not everybody is so lucky. In some places, prescription drugs are what thieves look for when they burglarize homes.
As I said, while I don’t normally mix work with the blogging (except when I’m goofing off), I think this is something everybody should know about:
Ditch your unused drugs Saturday, April 30.
Tomorrow (April 30) is Drug Take-Back Day, the annual nationwide push to stop people from trashing or flushing their unused medications. The DEA has set up hundreds of drop-off centers all across the country to orchestrate safe disposal of drugs. That’s no small feat — in the past decade, the DEA says it has collected more than 5.5 million pounds of unused pills. It’s a continual concern, since drugs at home can cause accidental poisonings, and drugs in landfills can pollute water supplies. [From my Daily STAT Morning Rounds newsletter]
To find a location near you (sorry, it’s US only) click on this link and enter your zip code.
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This song has nothing to do with drug disposal, but it’s a great song.
FiftyFourandAHalf 
What an idiotic way to prescribe a highly addictive (and I’m going to guess expensive) drug.
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What I learned from growing up in the Bay Area in the 60’s and 70’s: if you have left over drugs… you are doing it wrong… ***this was a joke… kids, don’t do drugs… trust me on this***
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Give them to the squirrels. That’s what you do with them! (I know you were joking. Ish)
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but everybody else might not have… ha
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I applaud you for your public service announcement. I’ve often wished our doctors would dispense a trial run before a full 30 day supply [if a drug will be in your system and working in a short time] instead of dispensing the full amoount. It seems we turn in enough drugs to run a small pharmacy each time there’s a turn-in offered.
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That would be a great idea!
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And of course they can’t be reused.
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Good advice. Here in Switzerland, we can take out-of-date medicines to any pharmacy, and they will dispose of them; the same for electronics – any store selling such products must take your old equipment and dispose of it for you, no questions asked; it keeps people from just dumping them somewhere, and helps to protect the environment.
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That’s exactly what should be done! Where in Switzerland are you — I was in Geneva for 5 years. Back for 14 years, but I still miss it! Well, except for the French language part.
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I live outside of Zurich, in a small town in the lowlands. I speak Swiss German and High German, as well as English; I’ll leave the French to my “Romandie” nieces and nephews, I think… 😉
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How beautiful!
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Thank you! It’s not something we often think of, but should.
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It’s better that we are figuring out that we can’t just dump stuff; sad that it’s taken us so long!
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Great public service announcement Elyse. Thank you.
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Sure — What do you guys do up there?
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Good question. I know all pharmacies will take back any medications but I’m not sure where they go from there. They are not trashed because as you said, they get into ground water. We are already having problems with certain drugs appearing in drinking water – drugs like anti-depressants. The abuse of drugs is becoming a bigger problem every day.
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I’m going to head off with mine shortly — I will ask. Of course, I don’t have any interesting drugs to turn in — there may be some fish with very low cholesterol!
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We have a shelf in a rarely used bathroom dedicated to old medications. Keeping it in a place that isn’t frequented keeps it out of sight/out of mind, yet keeps it all in one place for the roundups. In our area, it usually occurs at least twice a year, spring and fall. We’ve got a bag already to drop off tomorrow.
It’s good that you post this information: I think it is an important issue. Actually, what would be really nice is if pharmacies did take-backs. Until recently, my mom was getting her medication at the military pharmacy (we do Express Scripts now – so much easier). About a year ago, just before we stopped using the base pharmacy, they installed a drop box – it was almost like a mailbox, locked, and you could drop off old/unused medications there.
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That’s a smart way to do it, keeping them isolated. I had to hunt around for ours — but there aren’t too many so it wasn’t a big deal.
Pharmacies should all take them back and dispose of them because it is in everybody’s best interest that they do. My pharmacy sells special envelopes (for $5) that you can fill with meds and send off (I don’t know where). But this should be something to encourage, not to charge for.
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Note to self: forget about burglarizing homes, too dangerous. Open a drug drop-off center instead.
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That would be the smart thing to do!
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Thanks for posting this, med disposal was a big problem for my patients back in my nursing days. 🙂
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It isn’t an easy thing to do. Pharmacies should take them and dispose of them!
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This an acknowledged and appreciated PSA. I do this EVERY time I visit my mother and her medicine cabinet. She has this ‘thing’ about keeping everything and I understand from where this comes. But expired food and drugs are, indeed, dangerous. Still, I’m all for the ‘five second rule.’ 🙂
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Glad to be of service, Eric! As a bit of a pack-rat myself I do understand where your mother is coming from. But old food and drugs need to go!
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Such great advice, Elyse. They are way too liberal with those Rx quantities. And every day, lives are lost. So tragic. On a lighter note, I posted today about ingesting St. Joseph’s baby aspirin, back in the innocent 1950’s. ☺
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It really is awful. When I got that container of 60 pills I thought it was a misfill and that it should have been 6. Of course, the recovery was more painful than I expected but still, doctors need to (and I think are beginning to) understand the downside to prescribing large numbers.
I loved your St. Joseph’s post!
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Thanks, Elyse. 💕
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Very important information, Elyse. Thank you for passing it on. Off to spread the word on Twitter.
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I could have sworn that we had an exchange about Twitter after you posted this comment. There are a couple of other responses that are missing. Pretty weird!
Duncan and I will be leaving on our drug delivery field trip shortly!
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If we had any to get rid of, we would too!
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Reblogged this on Chasing Unicorns and commented:
Tired of the avalanche, whenever you open your medicine cabinet? Here’s a public service announcement from one of my blogging buddies, Elyse.
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Thanks, Tippy. I thought I’d already thanked you though. Something odd is happening in my comments section. I think it must be on drugs.
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You did already thank me. I then gave you a smiley face. Which is odd for me. I usually don’t like to use emoticons. But I’m on drugs. On my way to the pharmacy to surrender all my old anxiolytics, I mistook them for a bag of candy and began idly sampling them. Anyway, I feel very sleepy and it’s time for a nap. But your welco . . . zzzzz . . .
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So what the heck do they do with all those drugs after we surrender them, to render them safe? I’ll bet they’re dumping them in the ocean. One of these days, giant morphed sea monsters will invade our coastal cities and wreak havoc.
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Good question. I don’t know. I will ask tomorrow, though!
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Looks like I’ve given you a mission. Be careful who you ask, though. This could be a dangerous assignment.
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I failed at my mission.
I did go to the police station and deposit all my old drugs. But there was nobody to talk to. There were a few police officers behind bulletproof glass, and they motioned me to open the pillbottles and dump the pills into the bins. Which I did. So I don’t know what they do with them. But at least they won’t be selling them because there was quite an assortment of sizes and shapes and colors at the bottom of that box!
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Maybe they can sell them as grab bags. Oh well, at least you stayed out of trouble.
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When the insurance company decided I needed to experiment with migraine meds, I got several different things that DON’T WORK. ugh. Those are good candidates, esp the tylenol with codeine. Thanks for the reminder.
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I HATE tylenol with codeine. It puts my body to sleep — I can’t move — but my mind stays active. I always imagine a fire.
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how awful. Fortunately that one was prescribed as a last resort, and I didn’t need to resort to it. And fortunately my ins company finally agreed I’d tried enough things that DON’T WORK that they relented and approved the one that does. (emoticon with me blowing raspberries at those who determine what health care we can afford and what we can’t…)
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Lord, save us all from insurance companies!
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It’s a good idea, and a shame they don’t have something like it here. We keep a supply of OTC medication and always check the dates as we don’t take anything unless it’s absolutely necessary. Hubby is on permanent medication though and again is vigilant in their expiry.
When clearing out his mother’s cupboard, he found not only packets, but bottles of precribed medication dating back almost 8 years. Disposal was conflicting. We were advised to take it to our GP surgery who said take it to a pharmacy who said take it to our GP.
When told they had sent us to them, the pharmaist begrudgingly accepted them.
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It is a problem. And the drugs are getting into the water supply. My pharmacy sells envelopes you can ship off (for $5) but this is better.
I’m sure I have some old stuff around the house. It’ll be good to get rid of it.
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You’re not on Twitter? Was going to tweet this! Thanks for posting – it’s a real problem right now – especially fentanyl-laced heroin.
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I’m not on Twitter. I think the chances of my saying something terrible increase dramatically with the ease of Twitter!
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LOL!
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Just saw this today at our local mall. Somehow I am always prescribed way more pills than I need. Seems like the cost is the same whether I get 5 or 50. Thanks for the psa!
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I hadn’t seen any info on it — and you know what a news junkie I am. They should be advertising it everywhere!
Glad they are where you life, anyway.
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In my area, they have done a really good job of promoting the location and made it as easy as possible for people, even allowing a “drive-through” version at one of the collection centers. I’m all for anything that keeps chemicals of any kind out of our water supply. Bonus that it eliminates the possibility of accidental ingestion by kids or pets. It’s kind of surprising how easily old prescriptions pile up in the average home. Disposal is a good way to clear out the clutter, and do it in a responsible way. 🙂
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The stuff is just too dangerous! And there is also the possibility of taking the wrong medication when you grab the wrong bottle. This sort of thing really should be available at every pharmacy, not just once a year.
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