Clean out your medicine cabinet
By Dr. Lisa Miller Pharm.D., Head of Corporate Social Responsibility
As a doctor of pharmacy and head of corporate social responsibility for Purdue Pharma, a manufacturer of prescription opioids, I understand and appreciate the collaboration that goes into making sure medications are taken as prescribed, managed and discontinued in the most effective way to improve health outcomes. Pharmacists, as well as physicians, nurses, patients and caregivers play important roles in the continuum of care. For example, it’s important to make sure patients understand the risks and benefits of their medicines. But it’s also important for caregivers and patients to remove all unused, unneeded and expired medications from the home to limit the possibility of sharing, theft, diversion and non-medical use.
A study conducted by the National Community Pharmacists Association shows that up to 40 percent of dispensed prescription medications are not completely used during treatment and are likely to remain in the home, where they may not be securely stored.1 In fact, a recent national survey done by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 53 percent of people aged 12 or older who misused prescription pain relievers in the past year reported that they obtained the pain relievers most often from a friend or relative.2
It seems straightforward: remove unneeded medication from your medicine cabinet and home. But far too often, unused pills are accessible to those seeking to abuse them.2 Consider the opportunities for these pills to get into the wrong hands, like holiday parties, open houses, or workers coming into your home. Unused medications can also become dangerous when consumed accidentally, resulting in calls to poison control centers, hospitalization and even death.3 By properly disposing of prescription medications, all of us can help make a difference and save lives.
As we enter a new year, let’s embrace a fresh start: clean out your medicine cabinets. Dispose of unused, unneeded, and expired prescription and over the counter medications to help prevent harm, drug addiction and overdose deaths.4,5 Safe disposal programs are supported by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.5,6,7
There are initiatives across the country that address the safe disposal of medications and there are many ways to dispose of these unnecessary medications. Using a locator found on the DEA’s website, people can identify the nearest collection site. If a take back program is not available nearby, read the information that you receive along with your prescription medication and review the medication disposal instructions, or simply ask your pharmacist about appropriate disposal methods. And, if no take back program is available near you, the FDA recommends flushing select drugs down a toilet or sink.7 A study published in 2017 shows that there is a negligible risk to the environment when these drugs on the FDA “flush” list are disposed of in the water systems.8
Improving health outcomes and keeping our communities safe requires efforts from everyone, and all of us have a role to play. By properly disposing of prescription medications, all of us can help make a difference and save lives.
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2 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. SMA 18-5068, NSDUH Series H-53). Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from here. Accessed December 19, 2018.
3 Drug Enforcement Administration. (2018) How to Properly Dispose of Unused Medicines. Retrieved from here.
4 Drug Enforcement Administration National Take Back Day. Retrieved from here. Accessed September 10, 2018.
5 Drug Enforcement Administration, Diversion Control Division. National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. Retrieved from here.
6 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. How to Dispose of Medicines Properly. Retrieved from here.
7 Food and Drug Administration. Disposal of Unused Medicines: What you should know. Retrieved from here.
8 Khan U, Bloom RA, Nicell J, Laurenson J. Risks associated with the environmental release of pharmaceuticals on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “flush list”. Science of the Total Environment. 2017; 609:1023-1040. Received from here. Accessed December 13, 2018.
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