Raise your hand if you have a cupboard full of partially used medications, expired acetaminophen, and old anti-histamines. We do! Conveniently, there is a way to safely get rid of the unused medications in your life. Don’t leave them around the house and don’t put them back into the water supply (via flushing them or putting them improperly in the garbage)….both carry risk.
April 26 is the DEA’s National Drug Take Back Day. Conveniently, this is the perfect time to quickly clear out some of that clutter. As we ready our lives and our homes for summer (yes, please!) it’s a perfect time to clean out the medicine cabinet. No question getting rid of medications isn’t as straight forward as we’d like (ie it’s not like getting rid of an old banana peel). And we really don’t want Cousin Judy’s anti-depressive in our drinking water nor do we want any antibiotics in our soil. And who really wants a guest rummaging through your medicine cabinet at next year’s holiday party looking for drugs!
When we buy over-the-counter (OTC) medications at the pharmacy using them safely for our family demands 3 skills:
- Reading and following the labels, dosing them properly for our kids.
- Figuring out what is actually in the bottles of meds! Knowing the active ingredients in OTC medicines really matters.
- Safely disposing of expired or unwanted medicines when we’re done with them.
The FDA provides clear instructions on getting rid of your unwanted OTC meds:
- Mix unwanted over-the-counter meds with other substances like coffee grinds or kitty litter. The meds will bind up in the coffee and/or kitty litter and be less likely to disperse, leak, or get out of the garbage. In addition, kids, pets, and those in the garbage looking for meds will be less likely to get into them.
- Place them in a sealable bag (think Ziploc style) or an empty can before disposing of them.
- Throw your combination in the trash.
If you’re uncomfortable disposing of medications with the above instructions or have a large volume of OTC or any prescription meds to get rid of, this Saturday between 10am and 2pm April 26th there will be sites all over the US where you can just drop off unwanted meds in bottles or packets. Just click here and search for a drop-off site (by zip code) near you to find the National Take Back Collection Site. Show up between 10am and 2pm and they will take all of your unused OTC or prescription medications. Voila — you’ll be clutter free come Sunday morning!
This post was written in partnership with OTC Safety.org. In exchange for our ongoing partnership helping families understand how to use OTC (over-the-counter) meds safely they have made a contribution to Digital Health at Seattle Children’s for our work in innovation. I adore the OTC Safety tagline, “Treat yourself and your family with care all year long.” Follow @OTCSafety #OTCSafety for more info on health and wellness.
beh27 says
Thank you for underscoring the importance of safe, clean drinking water and highlighting Drug Take Back initiatives for safe disposal of unwanted prescription drugs!
Tami Bradford says
Wow! I wish I had read this post a few days ago. I didn’t even consider that meds needed to be disposed of in a specific way. Thanks for the information and I’ll be doing this in the future.
Carol Chick says
Where can I get rid of old prescription meds?
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
Click on the link to find a Take-Back location near you. It’s in the post but here it is again. The link “times out” so just hit the red “start over” link when you get to the page. Then you can put in your zip code and find the locations nearest you:
https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/NTBI/ntbi-pub.pub?_flowExecutionKey=_cE232524F-75BC-E98A-8843-DC96842950D0_kC860B38C-D328-BFCE-EBFF-3E076E4E2920
Carol Chick says
Where can I get rid of old prescription meds in Mansfield,OH?
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
When I plug in 44901 into the zip code finder it finds 4 drop-off locations
Richland County Sheriff (597 Park Ave E)
Mansfield Police Dept (1125 National Parkway)
Lexington Police Dept (44 W Main)
Shelby Police Dept (31 Mack)
You have until 2pm — still time!
R Baldwin says
They need to work on their language. Joking about anti-depressants isn’t funny. Due to the costs of some of these meds we would do well to reuse some of them. Many are over $1 a pill.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
I wasn’t joking about anti-depressants; I’m sorry that’s what you inferred while reading the information. I really don’t want SSRI’s or any other psychotropic medications in the water source — or any other Rx meds. The example of “Judy” was used in the piece just to bring the concept to a more familiar frame.
Ann says
I missed the National Take Back Day. Will there be similar events during the year? It would be helpful to have several such events scheduled throughout the year.
Wendy Sue Swanson, MD, MBE says
Hi Ann,
Agreed. You can typically bring old/expired meds into any pharmacy and they will dispose of them for you.
Here’s more from DEA (including a number you can call to find a location near you) outside of the Take-Back Day: https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/
Wendy says
I think National Take Back Day is an excellent idea. If you’re one of those people who keep old meds around just in case you might need them later, don’t. You never know if your children, teens, spouse or anyone could get into them by accident and have serious harm, including overdose.
If you aren’t on a regular prescription and your RX is outdated, take it back! You don’t need something that could be dangerous clogging up space in your medicine cabinet.