They are in your medicine cabinet. When you are sick, they make you better. When you are watching television, they are advertised regularly. You may even have some left over from a past illness. I am referring to prescription drugs. Because they are so much a part of our lives, most of us do not give them much thought. So the following are some things to consider regarding prescription drugs and their storage and disposal.
There are very real reasons that certain drugs require a doctor's examination and prescription rather than being available over the counter. During an exam, a doctor must ascertain whether or not there are allergy issues, what other medications the person is taking and whether or not interactions between medications could present a problem.
Are your medications safely stored in your medicine cabinet? They may not be as safe as you think. Douglas County Juvenile Probation has seen cases of youth with stolen prescriptions to use or share, or selling their own medications. Last school year, a student was seen handing out pharmaceutical drugs on the school bus. These pills were stolen from a home medicine cabinet. The students on the bus accepting these pills did not even know what the medication was or what the dosage should be.
According to the 2009 Douglas County Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 4.7 percent of Douglas High School students admit to taking steroid pills or shots without a doctor's prescription, 20.3 percent admit to taking over-the-counter drugs to get high, 7.6 percent admit to taking laxatives/diet pills/powders without the advice of a doctor. A 2007 study by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy found that among teens aged 12-17, 11.9 percent have taken prescription drugs to get high.
According to the Food and Drug Administration's February 2007 report, you should not flush prescription drugs down the toilet unless the label or accompanying patient information specifically instructs doing so. A list of drugs that can be safely flushed down the toilet is available on their Web site www.fda.gov. But consider that flushed medications could end up in the water supply, so a safe route is to dispose of them elsewhere. In fact, Douglas County water companies strongly urge community members to not flush any medications.
By far, the safest way to dispose of unused medications is to take advantage of a prescription drug round-up. These round-ups are conducted by law enforcement and community coalitions to ensure that the medications collected are safely destroyed according to Drug Enforcement Agency protocol. The round-ups ensure patient confidentiality by marking out names and prescription numbers, leaving only the drug identification information. The next round-up is scheduled for Douglas County on 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the following community locations: Smith's in Gardnerville, Walmart on Topsy Lane in Douglas County, Sheriff's Tillman Substation, Topaz Ranch Estates Fire Station, and Safeway in Round Hill. This round-up is sponsored by The Partnership of Community Resources and the Douglas County Sheriff's Department.
The bottom line: No one knows for sure if expired medications are safe or if their potency has remained the same. If the medication has been opened or stored in a high temperature or high humidity (such as a bathroom medicine cabinet), it is wise to dispose of it. If you have a question about the safety of a particular drug, take the medication to your doctor and get his/her advice. Also consider, the longer a medication stays around your house, the more chances there will be for the drug to be diverted to a use other than its original purpose.
Martie Washington is grants manager of the Partnership of Community Resources
