Efforts aim for proper disposal of unused drugs

How many of us have gone to pull something out of the medicine cabinet and been buried under a hail of old prescription bottles?

Leaving those prescriptions in the cabinet can invite accidental overdose or misuse. Flushing them down the toilet can have harmful environmental effects.

Harvey County, along with Sedgwick and Douglas counties, recently received a grant to help educate people about the proper disposal of prescription medications.

A Kansas State University intern planned to visit with as many as 77 local medical facilities this summer, including seven pharmacies, in attempts to education people and medical professionals about proper drug disposal.

The county also has been running spots on the local access channel about guidelines released by the Food and Drug Administration as of 2007 about drug disposal.

It is illegal and unwise to pass unused prescription drugs to friends or family members.

Doctors prescribe drugs based on a person’s specific symptoms and medical history.

A drug that works for you could be dangerous for someone else, the FDA said in a news release.

Prescription drugs, with the exception of narcotics and controlled substances, can be taken to the Harvey County Transfer Station, 3205 S.W. 24th St., said Roy Patton, Harvey County superintendent of solid waste.

Tell the scale manager you have medications for disposal. The service is free.

Patton said it is a good idea to remove the label or scratch out the name on the medication to protect your identity and health information.

The transfer station does not need to know what kind of medication it is, Patton said.

The medications are gathered with other household hazardous waste and are transferred to an offsite location for incineration.

Although the general rule now is not to flush drugs, the FDA recommends to flush some controlled substances because of the risk of accidental overdose.

Some pain patches, even after they have been used, contain medication that can be absorbed by the body and can be a risk for pets and children, according to the FDA’s Web site.

Look on the drugs packaging or contact your pharmacist if you have questions.

As yet another alternative, the Harvey County Sheriff’s Department has agreed to dispose of narcotics and controlled substances free of charge, said Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton.

These substances need to be taken to the sheriff’s office in the Harvey County Law Enforcement Center.

“We don’t want these flushed down the toilet and end up in our waste stream,” Walton said. “We don’t want to end up drinking these things.”

Walton said many families end up with unneeded medications when an older family member dies. He said the drug disposal programs will allow residents to safely get rid of unwanted medications.

“Would like to see these drugs kept out of the hands of kids and out of the hands of people who should not have them,” Walton said.

If you are unable to get to the transfer station or sheriff’s office, you can use the kitty litter or coffee ground disposal method, Patton said.

Before putting the drugs in the trash, take the medications out of their original containers and mix them with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter.

The medication will be less appealing to children and pets, and unrecognizable to people who may intentionally go through your trash.

Put the medications in a sealable bag, empty can or other container to prevent the medication from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag.

Patton said in theory, the medications should be safe in a lined landfill.

Flushed medications, however, may pose an environmental risk.

They can kill beneficial bacteria in waste-water treatment plants and can pass through treatment plants into the environment or into drinking water, Patton said.

A drug company that wants FDA approval must submit an application package. FDA requires an assessment of how the drug’s use would affect the environment.

“For those drugs for which environmental assessments have been required, there has been no indication of environmental effects due to flushing,” said Raanan Bloom, Ph.D., an environmental assessment expert in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, scientists to date have found no evidence of adverse human health effects from pharmaceutical residues in the environment.”

Nonetheless, FDA does not want to add drug residues into water systems unnecessarily, an FDA news release said. The agency is in the process of reviewing all drug labels with disposal directions to assure the recommended methods for disposal are still appropriate, the release said.

Patton said the local disposal program has been successful thus far with 350 pound of medication disposed of within the last month.

For more information on drug disposal call the transfer station at 283-5439, the sheriff’s office at 284-6960 or go to the FDA’s Web site at www.fda.gov.