Why would it be illegal? Totally unenforceable. What jobs test for pills though? Lots of pain killers will show up positive for an opioid but after showing them the bottle and saying you had a migraine I cannot expect anyone getting fired for that. Maybe for jobs that require you to use machinery but even that
What does a job related drug test have to do with legality of expired prescription drugs?
If it *is *illegal, my GP needs to be told. I asked her how to dispose of them and she said the best thing to do was to seal them up and store them out of reach of children…
Oh, Lordy, if it’s illegal to keep expired meds, my mother can expect the paddywagon at any minute. I’ve found ointments and OTCs and things in her medicine cabinet that had been expired close to a decade. Lock her up! Throw away the key!
Their burden of proof. I think any cop that routinely arrested someone that had pills in a prescription container with his or her name on it is probably not destined for a long career.
I assume medical records are kept around long enough for emergency vindication in any event.
When my grandmother died the hospice nurse washed all her remaining prescription drugs down our kitchen sink.
Sorry, i misread your quote earlier. I am curious as to how certain drugs will deteriorate. I haven’t actually taken these specific drugs in several months. They have NOT been stored in a cool, dry place. If I went anywhere, they went with me just in case so they’ve been in my pockets on hot days and damp days. Aside from the legal implications, Iv’e been looking for information on weather or not they might degrade, oxidize, ferment, ect. into something toxic
That makes sense, as the point is that only you can take medicine prescribed for you. Plus, if you’ve saved up your own medicine by not taking it all, you probably aren’t addicted (as mentioned upthread). You have no such assurances if it’s the medicine of someone who can no longer take them, given to someone else.
I personally never use all of my cough syrup, and keep it around so I don’t have to buy new since my insurance won’t cover it. I usually wind up having to throw it out.
In Ohio, there’s now an ad campaign asking people NOT to flush their unused meds down the toilet, or wash them down the sink - depending on where you live, it might end up in a lake and can cumulatively hurt wildlife. See here: http://wrd.clermontcountyohio.gov/PrescriptionDrugs.aspx
Well, maybe not a lot to do with the actual legality, per se. But let’s say you test positive for opiates. Then you say “Yeah, I had this legal prescription for oxycontin 4 years ago, see this bottle? I didn’t use it all, and a couple days ago when I got a sore back I remembered I had some left.”. I think the point was that they are very likely not to believe that, even if the bottle has some oxycontin pills in it, that you could have obtained illegally.
Medical advisability, and legality are separate issues. Some drugs require prescriptions, some of them are controlled substances, and cannot be possessed without a valid prescription. A valid prescription contains dates to begin, and end use of the drug. The license to possess this substance only covers the period between those dates, not the date of expiration of the drug lot. While it is unlikely that you will be prosecuted for possession of a Tylenol III after the date you prescription expires, it is legally possible.
Tris
Is the “discard by” date the license expiration or the drug expiration date?
When I broke a bone in my ankle, they operated and inserted a plate. Then they sent me home with 50 vicodin. I still have the whole 50, pretty good evidence that I am not addicted. Don’t cops have better things to do? Now if I tried to sell them (I am told they are pretty valuable on the black market), that would plainly be illegal.
Why have I kept them for 6 years? Well, during the summer of '93, I had a very bad back. Very bad. Our family doctor was on vacation and no doctor would write prescription with a visit. At the time I could not either sit or stand for more than about a minute without excruciating pain. You cannot believe how fast I was defecating and showering. Finally, our doctor came back, he prescribed a pain killer and only then, things gradually improved. Never again will I be caught without a strong painkiller.
This is of course a terrible idea; the drugs pass through sewage treatment unchanged and enter into downriver water supplies. Return drugs to your pharmacist for proper disposal (or just keep 'em, they might come in handy).
I work in the Drug Testing industry and the problem with Old Med BOTTLES is that ppl often keep OLD bottles and refill with Pills which have been illegally purchased on the street.
Given how short the expiration dates are, and how they do not vary depending on the compound, the dates are essentially bullshit. All they mean is the drug company has tested out to that date and is pretty sure the medicine is still valid. I suspect that many of these compounds will continue to work centuries later.
Apparently if stored properly you can stretch cipro out at least 8 years past expiration. My limited understanding of medication expiration dates is this – a drug company will test a drug for a set period of time, lets say three years. If the drug is still good at three years and they choose to stop testing at that point, its just called three years. The drug may be good for another decade, they just stopped testing to see if it is.
Cecil did a column on expired meds, in case anyone finds that helpful.
IANAL, but I don’t think keeping expired prescription drugs on hand is illegal. Just keep them out of reach of those for whom they were NOT prescribed.
I am trying to dispose of a mountain of drugs left over after my wife died, but no pharmacy I’ve called (CVS, Walgreens and Rite-Aid) has any policy of accepting drugs for disposal. They directed me to local law enforcement, but even then I only found one police department with such a policy.
Not illegal if the drugs are the drugs that were originally dispensed in the container. However if you are getting the same drugs illegaly and then keeping them in the expired bottle to cover your tracks, then that is illegal.