4 ways to safely dispose of unused or expired medications - Prime Therapeutics
4 ways to safely dispose of unused or expired medications
Jessica Johnson, clinical consultant at Prime/Magellan Rx’s special investigations unit, shares how to help lower the risk of drug misuse.
Holding onto old, unused prescriptions and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs can be dangerous — approximately 35,000 emergency-room visits each year involve accidental overdose in children under the age of 6 years old.1
Prime Therapeutics/Magellan Rx Management (Prime/Magellan Rx) is committed to preventing drug misuse, and that’s why our special investigations unit— which specializes in fraud, waste and abuse cases — is proud to share a new report that identifies four simple ways to safely dispose of old medications.
Often the best first step is to routinely clean out your medicine cabinets and sort through any expired or unused medications that you no longer need.
But what do you do once you find expired or unused prescriptions? Here are a few easy ways to dispose of unwanted drugs:
- Stop by a year-round drug take-back location to anonymously dispose of certain medications, including aerosols, capsules, creams, gels, inhalers, liquids, patches, pills and powders.
- Participate in National Drug Take Back Day, a national effort by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In April, a total of 335 tons (670,136 lbs.)2 of medications were collected. The next Drug Take Back Day will be on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. For more information about National Drug Take Back Day, read our April Fraud Focus article from earlier this year.
- Talk to local law enforcement agencies, which often have drug drop-off locations.
- Consult the FDA if you’re unable to take your medications to a drug drop-off location.
Don’t dispose of medications in the trash, which ends up in landfills, or down the toilet, which can be dangerous to water supplies and may cause plumbing issues down the road.
References
- Rebecca Rakiec, PharmD Candidate School of Pharmacy University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut Marissa Salvo, PharmD, BCACP, FCPA Associate Clinical Professor of Pharmacy Practice School of Pharmacy University of Connecticut Storrs, Connecticut. (2023, October 18). Preventing Accidental Pediatric Medication Overdose . U.S. Pharmacist. https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/preventing-accidental-pediatric-medication-overdose-
- Take back day. (n.d.). DEA. https://www.dea.gov/takebackday#results
About Prime Therapeutics
Prime Therapeutics LLC (Prime) offers innovative pharmacy benefit management, specialty and medical drug management, and state government solutions to millions of people across the country. At Prime, we’re reimagining pharmacy solutions to provide the care we’d want for our loved ones. That means we challenge the way it’s always been done to develop intelligently designed solutions that deliver savings, simplicity and support to our customers and members. For more information, follow us on LinkedIn.