Cleaning Out the Medicine Cabinet

Drugs in the Water Systems

Some tasks should be done once per year like spring house cleaning or closet cleaning. Reorganizing and regrouping the clutter that accumulates over the year is necessary to avoiding a heap of chaos. The same can be said for the medicine cabinet. Medicines accumulate over time and that can lead to a potentially dangerous situation; the more bottles, the more confusion and chance for an unintentional medication accident. Recently, I discovered that an 86 year old patient of mine had amassed a huge amount of expired prescriptions. Plus, she was medicating herself with this supply depending on how she felt. That’s scary.

Opening a medicine cabinet can also be scary. Petrified toothpaste, tangled dental floss, and dust bunnies lie along side drugs that date back to the 90’s, 80’s, and even 70’s. Now is the best time to clean out the medicine cabinet. But here is the dilemma: What do you do with the old drugs? Some people prefer for the convenience and ease of the flushing them. What’s the harm in that, right? Wrong, the Environmental Protection Agency is now charged with monitoring the drugs in the drinking water. That is right; drugs are in the drinking water. Most of these drugs are there not from intentional dumping, but from being excreted in the urine. Still, flushing drugs is not the best way for ridding ourselves of unwanted medications. In fact, the Federal Drug Administration has an official “Flush it” list of approved drugs for flushing, most of which are opioids and benzodiazepines. What about the non-“Flush-It” medications? What do you do with those?

The safest way to discard the drugs is through medication “take-back” programs. Locally, the Grass Valley Police Department has a collection system for drugs. This year, the Waste Management Company will also start a medication collection program. Pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics do not want the prescriptions returned to them. So, if a “take-back” program is not available, the FDA recommends mixing the chemicals in “kitty litter” or “coffee grounds” and put the whole thing in the trash. The whole idea is to keep the drugs out of the wrong hands which can be very small hands indeed.

The whole idea for cleaning out the medicine cabinet is to keep you safe. Besides, who wants a 30 year old bottle of drugs that has been hanging out with dust bunnies.

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Chronic Pain by drlasich