Health and Safety Issues of Improper Disposing of Drugs

Proper Disposal of Drugs Protects all living things

Once a medication becomes outdated it is no longer effective. It may not be quite as dangerous if taken by the person prescribed for - but overtime it will become weak and ineffective. Liquid medication will discolor and separate over time. Pills will break apart or "shed" their medicine properties in the bottle.

Children are very good at removing child protective caps on medications. Child proof caps can give parents a false sense of security. Children learn by observing. If a child observes a parent taking medicine and later has unsupervised access to the medicine they will be tempted to follow their parents lead. An outdated stored medicine is exceptionally vulnerable because the bottle cap will become less effective over time.

All medicine, especially antibiotics should always be taken exactly as prescribed for the length of the prescription. Purposely storing those "last few pills" for use at a later time is unwise.

Do not take any medicine until you talk with your health care provider first. All medicine should be approved by the FDA. FDA promotes and protects the public health by helping safe and effective products reach the market in a timely way, and by monitoring products for continued safety after they are in use. The agency regulates animal and veterinary products, drugs, medical devices, products that emit radiation, food, cosmetics, and vaccines and other biologics. Learn more about the FDA by following this link.

Locations in Tooele County to properly dispose of medicine are easily accessible. Take action now to minimize the threat of unknowingly poisoning humans, animals, or accidentally encouraging drug abuse.

Tooele County Health Department Division of Community Services
151 North Main Street • Tooele Utah • 84074
(435) 277 - 2440 • Fax (435) 277-2444