TanyaL

For those of us who have septic tanks I would imagine they are are safe as anything else we put through the septic tanks.

MadP

Our Police Department disposes of them.

MargeD

My girlfriend is director of nursing in a nursing home here in MA. The medications should be crushed or diluted in coffee grounds or kitty litter and placed in a sealed container. The nursing home has access to Bio-Hazard containers, but for the general public,I would handle them as above, then drop them off at a local center for disposal of hazardous wastes. Your local town hall should know when the disposal will take place, then you can drop them off, but don't flush them down the toilet.

hopetoquilt

When an insufficient amount of antibiotic is taken, the bacteria is not completely killed off and the remaining bacteria builds a resistance to the antibiotic. This means that the antibiotic will not longer work against the bacteria. This is why we now need so many different antibiotics. It also explains why we have MERSA and VRE infections that are killing people. It is irresponsible to use a "few" antibiotic pills that were prescribed for something else.

caspharm

The medicines do not all dissolve in water - some are soluble in alcohol, but it is better to find a disposal site than dumping them down the toilet. There have been many studies done on chemicals in our water sources and their effects on wildlife. Definitely check with both pharmacies and police depts. Also check the internet for other disposal options, since I did find some info on the internet for MN.

It is always important to properly dispose of meds, since they should only be taken by whom they were prescribed. However, sometimes if they are recently prescribed meds, depending on the laws and what meds, some hospitals or maybe hospice can sometimes accept them for re-use.

auniqueview

I took medication that was still usable, not to mention expensive, that I would not be taking, into my neurologist. This was some very heavy duty pain meds given to me from after my cancer surgery. I told him I preferred to stick with my vicodin, which I thought was more useful than the oxy-ones. I dump nothing into my septic system because it goes right into our ground water. He asked if it was okay for him to pass them onto his patients who had trouble affording their meds. I told him it was fine.

Other drugs, including some older ones for the dogs, also gave to the doc so that he could safely dispose of. No antibiotics, because you are supposed to FINISH all of those. After having a CVS pharmacist steal drugs from me, I wouldn't turn in out of date asprin to them.

Just a word of warning, tho...if you are going to give old meds to your doc to dispose of, make sure they are going to do it responsibly. I know of one who took the meds and told his receptionist to throw them in the trash. Uh...no.

Marni

Here the pharmacy takes care of them

Phannie1

This is probably the last place to put your old med. The medicine breaks down and then the field lines disperse into the yard to enter into the watertable. Then that water ends up in the surface water through streams and ponds. Then the water effects the fish and wildlife. This is why the old methods of disposal has changed.

sylviasmom

Walgreens has an envelope that is purchased to dispose of expired or unneeded prescriptions. I am not sure as to where you would mail this as I have not purchased one. I do plan on doing so as I have some old meds. And no you should NOT dispense your old meds to anyone in pain or ill. Very harmful.

TanyaL

For us personally it is a moot point as we are extremely conscientous to take all of each prescription. However, I seriously doubt that you could seperate the effect of a few thrown away prescription meds in a stream of water from the effect of the runoff of fields of fertilizer, herbisides, pestisides, etc from the fields of farmers and ranchers.