Did you know that:
- Seventy percent (70%) of opioid abusers get pain pills from family or friends.
- Seventy percent (70%) of teenagers can get prescription drugs from their parent’s medicine cabinets.
- Seventy percent (70%) of after surgery pain pills are never used?
- Wastewater treatment plants and septic systems are not designed to deal with pharmaceutical waste. Therefore, flushing unused medication in the toilet or down a drain can pass through these systems and become released into streams, lakes, and groundwater. This in turn can affect wildlife, the environment, as well as you and your family. Or that,
- After your medicine has expired the chemical composition could change and cause the medicine to lose its efficacy. Remember, expiration dates are a critical part of determining if a medical product is safe to use and will work as intended.
If you have unused medication in your house, please dispose of it properly. Search out your local unwanted drug take-back collection site by accessing the following site:
https://www.in.gov/bitterpill/take-back-locations/
Or you can go to Google Maps and type in “drug disposal near me” or “medication disposal near me” to find your nearest drug disposal site.
Also, the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010 made it possible for retail pharmacies to host drug take-back programs for unwanted medicines, including controlled substances. So ask your pharmacist if they are sponsoring any periodic “drug-take-back days.”