How to dispose of oral meds
 

I have a 2 quart bag of outdated oral med. I need to dispose of. We are on a septic system so if I flush them down the toilet they will get into streams and the American River and I understand mess up the wild life environment. Thought about planting them in the garden and let the gophers have at them. Do any of you with medical background have a suggestion?

I take back to drugstore and they dispose of them
Gale

Our local police dept has annual drives for collection of prescription meds, and have access to a state disposal lab. Have you thought of asking your police dept or local Health dept?

Call your local pharmacy and ask them. In our state it is a regulated procedure for the pharmacies to be able to take back medications for disposal and the ones who are able to only do it at certain times, not on a regular basis. The regulations may vary from state to state so a local pharmacy will have the best info for your area.

The gophers are wildlife too ... so no to that idea!

And too, it's not just the wildlife that could be affected .... it could be you too!
Any drugs flushed, dumped or planted, could eventually make their way back into your water supply.

So yes, look to your local pharmacy as your place of return ... or any other local initiatives that may be available to you.

Take them to your local drug store and ask them to dispose of them for you. They can do it safely.


Jane

Having just gone through this with the passing of my Mom.. The hospital advised to submerge the contents in the container in water and place in the trash. The Hospital will not take any prescription medications for disposal. The pharmacy would not take them either... to much liability if they are not "really" disposed since they do not have to track medications once they leave the pharmacy.

Google is your friend. I see that you're in California, so I googled "how to dispose of medications in California".

http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/homehaz.../household.htm

The police here take them and also the phamacy will take and dispose of them properly. Thanks for not dumping them into a septic or sewer system.

Police here will take them.