So nursing homes flush unused medication down the drain, which is of course a story. (After all, we’re polluting our water - and wasting expensive medication.)
What the reporter might have reported if they’d done a little digging is that the laws preventing the use of leftover medication don’t apply only to nursing homes. (Gee, I wonder who lobbied for that?)
When my ex-husband died five years ago, he left $600 in unused cancer medication. I started calling around to see if I could donate it somewhere, and that’s when I discovered it was illegal to donate or accept someone else’s medication - yes, even if it had never been touched and was in the original bubble pack.
That just seemed absurd to me, and I finally found a free clinic in the Northwest who was thrilled to (illegally) take the stuff.
Imagine. That’s how we live, here in America - illegal castoffs of someone else’s medicine. Something not right about that…
Let’s just assume that not every person is an upstanding citizen and they might lie to achieve a goal. “rReuse” by a citizen might seem admirable, but would you be so relaxed if the meds you purchased from WalGod were ‘pre-owned’?
yeah i wanted to unload all the poison i was prescribed last year and found out the preferred way to dispose of meds was to flush them and i was extremely disheartened that they was no way to donate them to someone who really needed them. i decided to just keep them all in case there was a need for assisted suicide…mine of course.
Good to hear that you found a way for someone to use those drugs. It is foolish that it is illegal and unfortunate that they lose all financial value to the original purchaser. Some means of safe recycling/disposal must be found because there is ample evidence of some of the negative effects caused by flushing prescription drugs into the waste stream. From what little I’ve seen written about the subject, I’ve formed the opinion that drug flushing is as dangerous to the environment as any other known bio-hazard. At my age I have a small but growing collection of unused prescribed chemicals in pills, tablets, and capsules. They won’t get flushed or dumped in my life time, but I don’t know where they might go after I die.
Completely aside from any financial concerns, safe disposal of drugs is an issue that should be addressed. Addressing the financial side would be a welcome bonus. I’m glad you brought it up.
Granted that Big Pharma is pleased as punch with this law, it’s generally not smart to use or trade old drugs -they do degrade. And taking drugs without a doctor’s guidance is foolish.
Still, I’m glad you were able to recycle them to a clinic that could use them safely.
I was wondering recently how one is supposed to recyle old drugs. As we have discovered they end up in the environment when flushed. So what the hell is the safe procedure?
Since they are controlled substances anyway and after the Tylenol poisening and other problems with adulterated medications, it is just too unsafe to try to recycle these items. It is far safer to throw them away. do you really think they pose an environmental hazard when they would pas through your own bodies waste disposal system anyhow? And yes, they do degrade over time and this could also cause problems with their effectiveness in treating the illness they are needed for. How about doing something far more significant, like electing enough democrats to congress and the presidency to allow us to repeal the “no negotiating drug prices” provision of Medicare D?
It is not safe for the environment to put drugs into the water system (flush) or into landfills. Give them to your local pharmacist for disposal.