Sept 25 is the first National Take-Back Day: How to dispose prescription drugs?
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Sept 25 is the first National Take-Back Day: How to dispose of prescription drugs?
The United States Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration have designated Sept 25 as the National Take-Back Day to help people to dispose of potentially dangerous controlled prescription drugs, the Food and Drug Administration announced on Sept 20.
Saturday, Sept 25, 2010 was the first National Take-Back Day to kick off the National Take-Back Initiative. Collection activities took place from 10.00 a.m. through 2.00 p.m. throughout the nation at local police departments, according to the DEA's Office of Diversion Control.
The DEA offers on its website a database for people to locate a site where they can drop off their unused or expired controlled prescription drugs. Sites are added to the database daily, but according Denver Post, there were at least 4000 locations nationwide available for people to drop off unwanted drugs on the Take-Back Day.
The DEA offers a few tips on the drug collection project. The agency said the take-back initiative program is anonymous. People should not fear seeing police officers collecting their controlled drugs.
The DEA also says the collectors only accept prescription and over the counter solid dosage medications like tablets and capsules, but not intra-venous solutions, injections, and needles. And illicit substances, such as marijuana or methamphetamine, are not accepted through this program.
The Houston Chronicle reported Sept 26 that the DEA collected more than 3000 pounds of prescription drugs on take-back day in Houston alone.
Those who still have some drugs to dispose of don't have to wait for the next National Take Back Day. The FDA says on its website that prescription drugs and over-the-counter medicines can be disposed safely in a number of ways.
The FDA says "almost all the prescription drugs can be thrown away in the household trash after mixing them with some unpalatable substance and sealing them in a container."
Another good way to remove unwanted or expired drugs from the home is to use drug take-back programs for disposal, the FDA says in a statement posted on Sept 17, 2010.
For the controlled and potentially dangerous prescription drugs, one good way to dispose of them is to flush them down the toilet. However, the drug agency says people should not flush all drugs down the toilet, due to concerns over environmental safety. The agency offers a list of prescription drugs that can be safely disposed of via the toilet and the sink.
The following prescription drugs can be flushed down the toilet, cited from the FDA.
| Medicine | Active Ingredient |
|---|---|
| Actiq, oral transmucosal lozenge * | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Avinza, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Daytrana, transdermal patch system | Methylphenidate |
| Demerol, tablets * | Meperidine Hydrochloride |
| Demerol, oral solution * | Meperidine Hydrochloride |
| Diastat/Diastat AcuDial, rectal gel | Diazepam |
| Dilaudid, tablets * | Hydromorphone Hydrochloride |
| Dilaudid, oral liquid * | Hydromorphone Hydrochloride |
| Dolophine Hydrochloride, tablets * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Duragesic, patch (extended release) * | Fentanyl |
| Embeda, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate; Naltrexone Hydrochloride |
| Exalgo, tablets (extended release) | Hydromorphone Hydrochloride |
| Fentora, tablets (buccal) | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Kadian, capsules (extended release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Methadone Hydrochloride, oral solution * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Methadose, tablets * | Methadone Hydrochloride |
| Morphine Sulfate, tablets (immediate release) * | Morphine Sulfate |
| Morphine Sulfate, oral solution * | Morphine Sulfate |
| MS Contin, tablets (extended release) * | Morphine Sulfate |
| Onsolis, soluble film (buccal) | Fentanyl Citrate |
| Opana, tablets (immediate release) | Oxymorphone Hydrochloride |
| Opana ER, tablets (extended release) | Oxymorphone Hydrochloride |
| Oramorph SR, tablets (sustained release) | Morphine Sulfate |
| Oxycontin, tablets (extended release) * | Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Percocet, tablets * | Acetaminophen; Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Percodan, tablets * | Aspirin; Oxycodone Hydrochloride |
| Xyrem, oral solution | Sodium Oxybate |
*These medicines have generic versions available or are only available in generic formulations. List revised: March 2010
Unwanted or expired prescription drugs need to be disposed safely and quickly to prevent other people, particularly children from accidentally using them, which can lead to serious health conditions or death.
The FDA says accidental exposure to drugs in the home is a major source of unintentional poisonings in the United States. It cites a report which revealed in 2007 that 255,732 cases of improper medicine use were reported to Poison Control Centers. Of them, 23,783 cases involved accidental exposure to another person's drug and about 5000 cases involved children ages 6 years or younger.
It should be noted that child-resistant containers are not 100% safe. A study revealed about half of the cases of children's exposure to grandparents' drugs involved drugs kept in child-resistant containers. Exposure to certain drugs can be fatal to young children.
By Jimmy Downs and editing by Rachel Stockton
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