4 ways to safely dispose of unused or expired medications

Holding onto old, unused prescriptions and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs can be dangerous — approximately 35,000 emergency-room visits each year involve accidental overdose in children under the age of 6 years old.¹

Prime Therapeutics/Magellan Rx Management (Prime/Magellan Rx) is committed to preventing drug misuse, and that’s why our special investigations unit— which specializes in fraud, waste and abuse cases — is proud to share a new report that identifies four simple ways to safely dispose of old medications.

Often the best first step is to routinely clean out your medicine cabinets and sort through any expired or unused medications that you no longer need.

But what do you do once you find expired or unused prescriptions? Here are a few easy ways to dispose of unwanted drugs:

• Stop by a year-round drug take-back location to anonymously dispose of certain medications, including aerosols, capsules, creams, gels, inhalers, liquids, patches, pills and powders.
• Participate in National Drug Take Back Day, a national effort by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. In April, a total of 335 tons (670,136 lbs.)² of medications were collected. The next Drug Take Back Day will be on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. For more information about National Drug Take Back Day, read our April Fraud Focus article from earlier this year.
• Talk to local law enforcement agencies, which often have drug drop-off locations.
• Consult the FDA if you’re unable to take your medications to a drug drop-off location.

Don’t dispose of medications in the trash, which ends up in landfills, or down the toilet, which can be dangerous to water supplies and may cause plumbing issues down the road.