# Fkushing Rx Drugs? Yes or No? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117 "2013-11-05T02:42:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/1 "2013-11-05T02:42:58Z")
We all hear the latest dogma NOT to flush our old Rx drugs down the toilet as it impacts the intergrity of our water supply. However, I read a rebuttal quoting some reliable sources (which I now forget) that flushing is ok, afterall. This is because the body itself is inefficient, and we excrete more than we absorb of drugs. Hence, we flush more than we think! So, what is the SD on this? ---
**Author:** ![DataX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/2 "2013-11-05T02:52:42Z")
The FDA publishes a list of drugs they actually want you to flush - these are basically drugs that are easily abused and would be plausible for people to go dumpster diving for. [http://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/ensuringsafeuseofmedicine/safedisposalofmedicines/ucm186187.htm#MEDICINES](http://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/ensuringsafeuseofmedicine/safedisposalofmedicines/ucm186187.htm#MEDICINES) I realize this doesn’t exactly address your question, but it shows the policy of the FDA in this situation. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/3 "2013-11-05T02:53:16Z")
From my healthcare employer, the word is “don’t flush”! They’d rather you just throw them away in the garbage. Best is if you ‘ruin’ the pills by putting some wet dirt or kitty litter in the container with the pills so they can’t be salvaged by someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/4 "2013-11-05T02:57:39Z")
DataX: I wanted to say Ithink both the FDA and CDC support not flsuhing, but I can’t swear to it. Truman: Yes, I have heard one might pour glue all over the drugs rendering them unusable. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/5 "2013-11-05T03:16:04Z")
Prescription drugs should be turned into the police. So says the [National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day](http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/) which took place on Saturday, October 26, 2013. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/6 "2013-11-05T03:16:52Z")
Both CVS and Walgreens (the largest pharmacy chains) have programs for safe disposal of medications. It looks like the programs use a prepaid mailer to send the drugs to a disposal site. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/7 "2013-11-05T04:01:17Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Prescription drugs should be turned into the police. > > So says the [National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day](http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/) which took place on Saturday, October 26, 2013. :rolleyes: Yeah, if everybody starts doing that, your local police are going to just _love_ it. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/8 "2013-11-05T04:07:44Z")
My needles and lancets go into a sharps container that I hand over to be disposed of to the base hospital. Any leftover drugs get mixed in with the kitty litter, and we stomp the bottles into shards and add them to the regular plastic trash. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/9 "2013-11-05T04:16:21Z")
Don’t flush antibiotics into the water supply. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/10 "2013-11-05T04:30:45Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > :rolleyes: Yeah, if everybody starts doing that, your local police are going to just _love_ it. Well, it’s a DOJ program in cooperation with local police. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/11 "2013-11-05T05:00:23Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > Well, it’s a DOJ program in cooperation with local police. Well, your link won’t work for me, but it seems to me that if everyone with expired or unwanted prescription drugs started doing this routinely, the police would quickly be overwhelmed. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/12 "2013-11-05T05:03:09Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Any leftover drugs get mixed in with the kitty litter . . . That’s what I was going to suggest. They’ll quickly become unfit for human (or feline) consumption. ---
**Author:** ![Space\_Vegetable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Space\_Vegetable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Space_Vegetable)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/13 "2013-11-05T08:05:05Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Well, your link won’t work for me, but it seems to me that if everyone with expired or unwanted prescription drugs started doing this routinely, the police would quickly be overwhelmed. They only do it about two days a year. My local police station set up some garbage cans with plastic liners for the day, in an outer room where an officer was working the phone and filling out forms. I don’t know where the bags full of drugs go at the end of the day. Maybe they just mix in kitty litter and put it in the trash for you. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fkushing-rx-drugs-yes-or-no/673117/14 "2013-11-05T12:42:34Z")
_Fkushing_? That sounds like an Urban Dictionary slang word for _butt-chugging_, but instead of alcohol, it’s done with prescription drugs. 😃