Here’s my situation. I have a large stash of expensive prescription medications that I no longer need. They are perfectly legally acquired, and have no potential for abuse, as far as I know. They have no psychotropic effects, and I can’t imagine why anyone would take them for recreational purposes.
Is there such a thing as a medication exchange, where I could trade these meds for meds I now need, or sell them, and buy the meds I need (selling them only to people who have a prescription, of course)?
Anyone ever heard of something like this? I really do have thousands of dollars worth of medication here, and I need a bunch of meds. Seems like there’d be a way to get together with others in the same boat.
Where I live, that’s a crime. Not only that,you should NOT flush them into the water system. If you take them to the druggist, they destroy them. That’s the law. The only thing that can be reused is things in blister packs. ( There is a movement to change more packaging, so prescription drugs can be sent to those in need, instead of being destroyed.)
I once found myself in a similar circumstance after caregiving someone to their passing. Those last couple of months the meds were ever changing, as more decline would manifest. I could have opened a damned pharmacy! They were expensive too!
I could not believe it, and spent a long time trying to find any organization that would take them, eventually boxing them up and heading to the pharmacy. Such a waste, when you know there are places in the third world that could put them to good use!
You can try Doctors w/o borders or some other NGO or charitable organization that understands that the meds are good and that it’s primarily a red tape issue. Although even there, they have to still be wary of the one in a billion rodent that would attempt to adulterate donated meds. Still, there might be something in their FAQ’s section.
OP asks if he can trade, sell, or otherwise exchange prescription meds with others who have a prescription for the meds they will be getting.
Every prescription in the United States says this on the label:
I read that to mean: This particular instance of a prescription for this drug is not transferable to any other person, not even to another person for whom a like prescription has been written.
OP makes a useful point of wanting to transfer some large value amount of meds to someone else who can use them (either by selling them or donating). But in the United States, this must necessarily be done, if at all, quite on the down low.
I’m thinking there might be exchanges to be found on the “dark internet”, if only the OP could find them.
Our local free clinic will accept donated prescription meds, but that doesn’t solve your problem of being out big bucks for meds you don’t need. It would get them off your hands, though.
In the end, you are talking about a quality control issue.
When you bought the medication new, would you have trusted them if the company declared:
we cannot prove that these meds are what they claim to be (though they look and are the same weight as the label claim)
we cannot prove that they are the correct dose (trust me, these are the 10mg tabs, not the identical looking 100mg ones…or vice versa… under/overmedication can be very dangerous for many illnesses)
we cannot prove that these have been properly stored, and therefore cannot make any guarantees as to their potency (when you buy today, you get 100.0%+/- 2.0% of label claim… what if you didn’t have that guarantee? Your 100mg tab might be down to 98%…or 90%…or 75%…how old are these, exactly? We can’t prove an age!)
likewise, we cannot prove that harmful degradation products (possible for many drugs) have not reached a level where pharmacological effects are experienced (e.g. side effects)
we cannot prove that all of the ingredients are pure, as indicated on the label and free of the myriad impurites the synthesis and manufacturing procedure may introduce if not properly controlled (just how much toluene DO you want to consume?)
we cannot prove that bacterial counts in anything intended to be sterile (eye drops, injectables, etc) are below acceptable thresholds (e.g. effectively zero).
In essence, the idea of not being able to hand over used meds to someone else is based on the idea that when you buy from a real pharmaceutical company (and pharmacist) you are getting what you are asking for: your 325mg Tylenol does, in fact, contain acetominophen in the indicated amount, without degradation, without unwanted impurities, without excessive bacterial counts, etc. You are getting a guarantee, backed up by the pharmaceutical company and whatever laws and protections apply (e.g. recalls and compensation, etc).
Getting a drug from another source, if there is a problem with it, you have no recourse. Your illness may not be properly treated, you could accidentally overdose, you could be exposed to harmful impurities, etc. Some people may insist that the consumer should have that choice - lawmakers (and I) disagree, since most people do not have the scientific and medical understanding to truly evaluate the risk. Obviously Big Pharma lobbying is a factor too, but we live in a world where people sue for the most trivial reasons, so on this front, I’m kind of on their side (disclaimer - I used to work in the industry, I have not for 6 years).
Anyways, that’s the logic behind why it is illegal to transfer medication in this manner and why there isn’t a system in place like what the OP is requesting. Obviously, between couples or whatever, common sense might prevail, but overall, sharing medication that has not been properly stored and tracked is not a good idea.
OK, thanks, everyone. Looks like I’m stuck with a bunch of expensive stuff, and will have to pay through the nose for another bunch of expensive stuff.
That’s how it goes, I guess. I understand that there are good reasons for informal sales and purchases of medications to be prohibited. Still, I was hoping to save a few bucks, and to help someone else in the same boat to save a few bucks.
Your attempt at a good deed will lead to no where. I was just a similar situation, my doctor changed my meds leaving me with literally hundreds of very expensive and potent pain killers. I brought them to my doctors office and asked him if he’s had another patient that could use them, a patient that perhaps didn’t have insurance. He told me that while it would be helpful, the liability was too great to pad them on, for reasons listed upthread. He suggested I take them to my pharmacy for disposal. Shame as I’m sure they could have Ben very helpful to someone.
When it happened to me it was from caring for someone in decline. In the final months medication, especially pain meds, are stepped up and changed, even from pills to patches, dosages shift. Changing conditions call for changing medications. When they pass you are left with a boat load of very expensive and certainly utile drugs and, hard as you try, they must be destroyed.
There is a simple enough fix, however – Blister Packs. Yes you may find them an irritation, but it’s for a good cause!
-if the recipient in a trade has a prescription, how qualified are you to assess it as real or forged?
-if you leave it up to the patient to self-medicate without a prescription, how qualified are they to assess the dose or even the drug they need?
A less regulated market, or one where nobody is watching and assessing every transaction is always open to abuse - if only for people who realize they can colour some aspirin and change the label and sell it for hundreds of dollars.
As pointed out too, there’s always the whacko one in a million who would find it hilarious to add arsenic to the tylenol.