Many households may have unused or expired drugs in their medicine cabinet. These drugs may become a safety hazard placing children, teenagers and other members of your household at risk of an
overdose.
There are many reasons to safely dispose of unused medicines:
- Medicines may lose their effectiveness after they have expired, and this can be dangerous to your health if you have certain medical conditions
- The recommendations may have changed on some of your over-the-counter and prescription medicines (For example, it is no longer recommended that children under four years of age take cough or cold medicines)
- Leftover medicine can become a safety hazard to children, teenagers or other members of your household who do not understand the dangers of taking medicine not prescribed for them
- Some prescription medicines such as painkillers can be removed from your home without your knowledge and contribute to your community’s drug abuse problem
You should inventory your medicines. Check expiration dates and remove all unlabeled containers, expired prescription and over-the-counter medicines and any leftover prescription drugs. It is important that medicine is disposed of in a safe manner.
The
National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day will take place on Saturday, April 27, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Agency, local communities and volunteers are available to collect and safely dispose of your family’s unwanted drugs and medications.
To participate, remove your personal identifying information from containers and place medicine in a sealable bag for transportation to the drop box location.