Before You Flush Old Pills, Know These Medication Disposal Rules

(Smith County) What's in your medicine cabinet? Knowing what's in your medicine cabinet could prevent an accidental overdose by keeping prescription drugs out of the wrong hands and potentially saving a life.

While looking for something in our bathroom cabinet, I recently discovered some old prescribed medication and wondered what I should do with it. Flush it? Trash it? Surrender it? While all of those things are viable alternatives, they're not always recommended.

After a medical procedure or illness, doctors often prescribe medication to help patients heal during recovery. Once recovered from your procedure, you should dispose of any unused medication and not keep it for future use. Those leftover pills could pose a safety risk if a child accidentally takes them or someone uses medication that is no longer appropriate for their treatment.

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Why Unused Prescription Medication Can Be Dangerous

Properly disposing of unused prescription or even over-the-counter medication is important so that it doesn't fall into the hands of others, which could be especially harmful. Curious children might mistake a bottle of medicine for candy. Someone visiting your home could take prescription painkillers or other controlled medications that weren't prescribed to them.

Three Ways to Dispose of Old Medication Safely

When it comes to disposing of unused or expired medication, you do have choices. Like I mentioned before,

• Surrender it: Use an authorized take-back location or prepaid mail-back envelope.
• Trash it: Follow FDA instructions for medicines not on the Flush List when a take-back option isn't available.
• Flush it: Only flush medicines identified on the FDA Flush List, and only when a take-back option isn't readily available.

Although there are several ways to dispose of unused medication, a drug take-back location or prepaid mail-back envelope is the preferred option for most medicines. Some medications should never be flushed down the toilet. The FDA has a list of drugs that can be flushed if a surrender or take-back location is not near you. If the leftover medication isn't on the flushable list, you can place it in your regular trash. You'll want to disguise it in some unsuspecting way, though. Don't crush the tablets or capsules, but put them in used coffee grounds, dirt, or cat litter.

READ MORE: Here's Where Confiscated Drugs From Texas Drug Busts End Up

Where to Drop Off Unused Medication in Smith County

Finally, you can surrender your expired or unused medication by sending it back via a prepaid drug mail-back envelope, which you can purchase in your local pharmacy, or if you're in Smith County, Texas, you can drop it off at the Smith County Sheriff's Office on N Spring Ave during normal business hours or the Smith County Emergency Operations Center on Spur 248 in Tyler 24 hours a day.

Lucky Larry, Mix 93-1

When Is National Prescription Drug Take Back Day?

There is a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day that occurs annually. This year's event is scheduled for Saturday, October 24. While there is a national event for this, you don't have to wait for the annual event to participate.

What to Do Before Throwing Away Medicine Bottles

Go through your medicine, bathroom, and kitchen cabinets, and you'll probably be shocked to find unused and/or outdated medications. When you find unused or expired medication, take the time to dispose of it safely. Before throwing away empty prescription containers, remove or black out your name and other personal information.