# What were these pills?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 14, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261 "2017-07-14T16:54:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/1 "2017-07-14T16:54:30Z")
I opened the front door of my apartment this morning and discovered a small baggie containing two white pills. “Caplet”-type pills (that is, capsule-shaped, but solid), white, and stamped with the letter “E”. No other markings.
Given the exact location where I found these, the baggie was clearly placed there deliberately. It was right up against the threshold of my door. My apartment door is up three steps from the common walkway, so it wasn’t dropped accidentally, and the baggie was too lightweight to have been thrown over the courtyard wall and just happen to land there, the baggie perfectly parallel to my threshold.
I’m hoping they were just Excederin, but I flushed them just in case.
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### Author:  [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/2 "2017-07-14T17:03:07Z")
[Look like this?](https://www.drugs.com/imprints.php?imprint=E&color=12&shape=5)
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### Author:  [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/3 "2017-07-14T17:27:10Z")
Yup, just like that. Thanks 🙂
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### Author:  [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/4 "2017-07-14T17:33:20Z")
So someone must think something in your place is giving people headaches I guess? 🙂
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### Author:  [@MetroGnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MetroGnome)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/5 "2017-07-14T17:33:35Z")
If you do a google search for “square white pill letter a” you’ll find a lot of parents freaking out over what kind of drugs their kids are getting into.
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/6 "2017-07-14T18:14:42Z")
Prolly meant for a neighbour. However one of those rules-of-thumb that has served me well, is _‘Never ingest tablets you don’t know’_.
It’s corollary is '_Never take drugs you find on the street’_.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2017, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/7 "2017-07-14T22:24:41Z")
IIRC, you should never flush drugs if you want to get rid of them.
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### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/8 "2017-07-15T01:54:04Z")
One of the pills would have made you taller, the other would have made you shorter.
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### Author:  [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2017, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/9 "2017-07-15T02:06:07Z")
> [@MetroGnome](#):
>
> If you do a google search for “square white pill letter a” you’ll find a lot of parents freaking out over what kind of drugs their kids are getting into.
Mentha Piperita is no joke!
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/10 "2017-07-15T02:08:32Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> IIRC, you should never flush drugs if you want to get rid of them.
Sounds like your toilet could use a plunge.
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/11 "2017-07-15T16:14:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#):
>
> One of the pills would have made you taller, the other would have made you…
small.
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all.
Go ask Alice
When she’s 10 feet tall.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/12 "2017-07-15T16:51:39Z")
(10 feet high, anyway)
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### Author:  [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2017, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/13 "2017-07-16T02:07:09Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> (10 feet high, anyway)
No–it’s either “Eight Miles High” or “Rocky Mountain High”. 😛
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### Author:  [@GiantRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GiantRat)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2017, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/14 "2017-07-16T08:43:11Z")
On a more serious note, illegal drugs are often stamped to look legit. That way, if the person holding them gets into the mix with the police, they can just say “it’s just Excedrin.”
Agreed that flushing them isn’t the best approach. Your local police department probably has some nexus to DEA or some other law enforcement agency capable of properly disposing of whatever… heck, I’ve taken stuff in to get rid of because an elderly friend died. I knew exactly what the drug was (nothing dangerous, but also not OTC). Don’t flush it; make someone else’s problem.
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### Author:  [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/15 "2017-07-16T16:57:33Z")
I assume you can take unused drugs back to the pharmacy or chemist’s. Why in the world would you hand in drugs to a police station?
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/16 "2017-07-16T17:09:40Z")
> [@DPRK](#):
>
> I assume you can take unused drugs back to the pharmacy or chemist’s. Why in the world would you hand in drugs to a police station?
Some police stations have a drop box where you can dump unneeded prescription drugs so they can be disposed of properly.
ETA: I imagine some pharmacies do as well.
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### Author:  [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)
#### Post date: [July 16, 2017, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/17 "2017-07-16T17:37:59Z")
“_Thank goodness I met you, officer: I was just proceeding in an orderly fashion to the local police-station in order to hand over this strange bag of white powder I found._”
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### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [July 17, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/18 "2017-07-17T19:32:10Z")
What a waste of perfectly good mystery pills. I would have taken one and then sold the other one for like $10 and then go get a slurpee and some jerky.
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### Author:  [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)
#### Post date: [July 18, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/19 "2017-07-18T14:26:10Z")
Hence your username.
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### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-these-pills/791261/20 "2017-07-24T19:08:46Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> Sounds like your toilet could use a plunge.
Heh!! Howeer, the advice nowadays is NOT to flush them, as there is real concern over the effect on the water supply.
The current recommendation is to adulterate them in some way - e.g. mixing them with coffee grounds or the like, and throw them in the regular trash.
[https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/ensuringsafeuseofmedicine/safedisposalofmedicines/ucm186187.htm](https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/ensuringsafeuseofmedicine/safedisposalofmedicines/ucm186187.htm)