Deadly Drugs – Medicine Cabinet Make Over

The largest part of these medicines found in water systems are there because of the natural elimination of drugs from the human body. The FDA bulletin went on to say that flushing drugs is responsible for only a small portion of the medicines detected in water supplies.

Water Supply Concerns

If you feel uncomfortable about flushing medications because of the possibility of them getting recycled back into your local water supply, call a local pharmacy or police station to find the best way to dispose of these substances. Many community or civic associations often have drug disposal drives to help citizens get rid of outdated or unusable prescriptions.

Flush or Surrender

Some of the drugs that should be flushed (or turned over to authorities for disposal) to keep family and pets safe include the following: Actiq, Avinza, Daytrana, Demerol, Demerol, Diastat/Diastat AcuDial, Dilaudid, Dolophine Hydrochloride, Duragesic, Embeda, Exalgo, Fentora, Kadian, Methadone Hydrochloride, Methadose, Morphine Sulfate, Morphine Sulfate, MS Contin, Onsolis, Opana, Opana ER, Oramorph SR, Oxycontin, Percocet, Percodan, and Xyrem. As you can see, the majority of these medicines are a concern because of their potential for abuse, and even resale, if found.

Further Instructions

Though drug disposal methods may differ in various jurisdictions, not all pharmaceuticals need to be flushed. In fact, unless otherwise indicated, do not flush or drain most medicines. Many medicines should have disposal methods written on the bottles themselves or on accompanying literature.

Accidental Ingestion

If you decide to trash the products you should prepare them for trash disposal: Pour Water or Soda into the pill containers or mix the pills or liquids with unpalatable or undesirable materials such as coffee grounds or kitty litter. This should make them unappealing to animals or humans who may find them so they won't become ingested. Consider placing the products in plastic bags with zip locks or garbage bags that are wound tightly so that if they do leak they won't have far to go.

Protect Yourself Two Ways

Before you toss your medicines, remove any identifiers. Scratch or soak the labels off before you dispose of them. This will prevent any personal information about you, your doctor, or your medicines from getting into the wrong hands. And never, NEVER, pass your old medicines to others, no matter how well they worked for you and no matter how much a friend's ailment resembles yours. For one thing, you're opening yourself up to a lawsuit for making the drug available. And the last thing you want to do is give a friend or family member a medicine that may not work for them in the first place and that could do irreparable harm to them or even cause death.

FDA Sample Case: Two-Year-Old Child Dies

Children are among the most vulnerable when is comes to the faulty disposal or use of drugs. Here is a case sample of just one of the many thousands that are brought to hospital emergency rooms every year:

A two-year old girl entered her house after playing outside. She was rubbing her mouth and not walking very well. Her mom thought she may have eaten something. The little girl was tired way before bedtime and her stomach ached. Her mom brought her to the ER and no apparent signs of injury or any other health threat was found. Her mom took her home. The nest morning her mom found her in bed and completely unresponsive. The mom called EMS and CPR was begun. By the time the little girl got to the hospital, she was dead on arrival. A blood sample taken at the time of death indicated that she had indeed ingested some oxycodone, a powerful opiate pain reliever. She obviously found it on the playground or got it from a playmate.

Don't let what happened to that little girl occur in your neighborhood, because of poorly discarded medicines.