Clean Out Old Drugs

Betty Lin-Fisher at the ABJ provides useful resources in this article we can use to safely dispose of old drugs…protecting ourselves, our children, and our community.

‘Kids can have parties where they all dump whatever they’ve found in their parents’ medicine cabinets in a bowl and “reach in there and grab them and see what happens,” Brake said.

“Every single person in this community can do their part to help,” she said.’

The ABJ regularly steps up with great work like this. At the same time, one dimension of the danger is not covered in this article. Here is what the (very conservative) Food and Drug Administration says about the dangers to YOU of holding onto expired drugs:

Expired medicines can be risky

Expired medical products can be less effective or risky due to a change in chemical composition or a decrease in strength. Certain expired medications are at risk of bacterial growth and sub-potent antibiotics can fail to treat infections, leading to more serious illnesses and antibiotic resistance. “Once the expiration date has passed there is no guarantee that the medicine will be safe and effective,” says Bernstein. “If your medicine has expired, do not use it.”

If less effective (or worse, unable to predict how effective)…risk of overdose grows.

Use can lead to more serious illnesses and antibiotic resistance problems.

And…too easy for others…kids…to either steal or stumble into an overdose as well.

Some old drugs can be flushed away: see FDA recommendations here.

Others can be disposed of as Julie and I did this Summer, when we brought plastic bags of Annie’s old medications to the Charlestown Police Department lobby where they have a secure location we can all use to dispose of old drugs safely.