Mine does not.

How many of you would really say to your doctor "Hey, can you dispose of these pills you prescribed for me that I decided not to take?" When you were probably in there needing some help for some reason or other? Why don't you just take the medicine for the full course of the prescription? Most prescriptions are only for 2 weeks or 30 days.

These are - as far as I can tell - mostly left over medications for post-operative pain. Usually prescribed on an "as needed" basis.

those are the kind I hoard, lol!!

I talked to my pharmacy dept of our local drug store and they told me to smash with hammer, mix with coffee grounds so no one could take them, then throw them in the trash. What is the purpose to destroy to keep them out of the land fill or keep teens from being able to take them? Not sure.
Jo

I would, too - if I recognized what they were for and they were less than ten years old!

I take mine back to the pharmacy for disposal.

Drug disposal is a huge problem - last year the federal government passed the Safe Drug Disposal act which set guidelines for safe and responsible medication disposal.

Basically the best environmental disposal method is incineration, but that is expensive which is why pharmacies are starting to refuse to accept old unused medication.

The rationale behind mixing meds in kitty litter or coffee grounds was to discourage someone finding it in the garbage and diverting it for illegal use. But as noted, those methods still end up in the landfill to eventually end up in the water table.

I think it the next couple of years companies will set up an economical and responsible methods for collection and disposal, but right now your best bet is law enforcement collection days and your pharmacy (if they will accept it).

I am astonished that any doctor would accept meds from a patient to give to someone else - that is illegal!!

There are all kinds of studies that show the meds in the water systems and that it affects the animals that use that water.....so, I wonder what it is doing to the humans that drink it?

You don't have to worry about the medicines showing up in your drinking water. State laws mandate the purity of your drinking water and all drinking water, i.e., purification treatment plants, are required to have their water tested on a regular basis. They have to remove herbicides, pestisides, fertilizers, toxins from decomposing dead animals,overflos from plants, things that make medicines pale by comparisons. The hardest thing to remove happens to be types of protozoa, and they will make people the sickest. But the chemicals from medicines are removed also. Chemicals are added to the water which will precipitate the other chemicals - not a difficult process. My husband was an engineer in one of the treatment plants in Texas and I'm sure other states' laws provide for water that is as safe as the water in Texas.