Ideal Bite

Great tip today. I actually had no idea you could take your meds back to the pharmacy. I don't have many prescriptions, so haven't given it much thought. Don't know about the "5-apple" rating though...try living in rural-ish North Dakota...Earth 911 says there's no recycling facilities within 50 miles (luckily I know there is!).

*disclaimer: i do not work for a pharmaceutical manufacturer nor am i a doctor; i am an armchair biologist* also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the tips you put out there. that said, today's tip on drug recycling was very alarming to me. people who take medications only until they feel better, rather than until the medication is gone, are potentially causing a very different problem for the earth. antibiotics work by killing bacteria. (i'll skip the lecture on people taking antibiotics for viral infections, which is a total waste of medication and money). if you do an incomplete job of killing the bacteria (which happens most typically by taking a too-short course of medication), you leave behind the strongest bugs, since the weakest ones are the first to die. as the bugs start to die, you start to feel better. the problem is, the strongest bugs are still around, and if you stop your medication, they are less likely to die. added bonus: bacteria (and viruses) are extremely adaptive organisms; this is their true key to survival. when you introduce a medication designed to kill them, and then stop before they die, the remaining bugs may mutate and or generate mutated children--the mutation being resistance to the antibiotic you were just using to try to off them. clearly, this doesn't happen to everyone all the time, because then it would be a given that people would finish their meds because otherwise they'd feel awful all over again. but when it does happen, this is how we get scary things like multiple-drug-resistant varieties of strep and TB. there are several strains of both of these right now that basically cannot be cured. infections from these bugs are everywhere by the way, including our nation's hospitals. for some of these bugs, we've regressed to the days before we had antibiotics, and people are again dying from simple, previously-treatable infections. please, please PLEASE finish your entire course of medication, it was prescribed for a reason. the only way i can see this tip being helpful in the larger picture is in the truly unfortunate situation that someone died and had leftover meds. as for the nasty nuvaring floating in the water (ick!), you can't recycle those anyway so that problem isn't truly addressed by this tip. a helpful book on this and other bugs is called "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett.

I agree. This is a great tip - important, practical, and something that's easy to change once you're aware of. I am adding this to my site's news section (with credit and links back to Ideal Bite, of course) to help spread the word, but the web page for the tip doesn't seem to be working. It doesn't come up in the tip archive, and when I found the link in the blog, it pulled up an appropriate URL but a blank page. So...maybe the problem will fix itself soon, but I wanted to let you guys know in case it is a website glitch. Thanks again! http://www.changedesign.net

I would check with your pharmacist first as they used to just flush them down the toilet as well !!

i agree...as one "arm chair biologist" to another! we're essentially just making the germs mad, while equipping them with the resistance to kick our collective ass! here's a great recycling effort: http://www.teleosis.org/gpp-pollution.php

Great tip. Our hazardous waste collections will take unwanted or expired medications. These include expired aspirin, Tylenol etc. as well as expired prescription meds, which could be left over from an injury & you did not need to use them all. You do not need to be dead to have leftover meds! Our Indiana waste collections will take: batteries,oils, cleaners,pesticides,solvents,mercury, poisons, aerosols & used CFL light bulbs(mercury). All for free! It's a good thing(Thanks Martha!)

Sadly, when I called my local pharmacy (one in a large grocery chain) to ask about disposing of my expired prescription, I was told to simply "flush them". "Really?!?" was my shocked response. I have since found another pharmacy that does take them and disposes of them safely. Like Kristin above said, definitely ask your pharmacist how they dispose of them after you leave.

The standard to dispose of meds is to "flush". I agree that this is a bad idea--there are several studies that prove it with deformed aquatic life, etc. However, returning it to a pharmacy or to be used overseas is reaching. These meds could be out of date or tampered with as far as the receiver is concerned. I certainly do not want to pay full price for something that was a "return"!

What about expiration dates on meds? I always thought it was a marketing ploy to get you to buy more often. I don't always use every bit of Dayquil before I feel better, but then next year when I go to grab it I check out the expiration date and it's expired. Does anyone know anything solid about expiration dates on meds? Preferably, someone not working in pharmaceutical sales...

eshoprx.com seems to be a great place for some meds my family uses like Lexapro but not some others like Concerta. Thanks for the suggestion. I may end having to get the four different meds my family members need from multiple source to get the best cost unfortunately. Sure hope the new administration gets something done so it's more affordable at mutiple sites and locations so we can all quit beating the bushes constantly to save some money.