Safe opioid storage and disposal
All medications can be dangerous when taken by someone for whom they are not intended. It is your responsibility to keep your medication in a safe place. Keep it out of the reach of others. This includes teens, children, vulnerable adults, and pets. A little over half of people who abuse prescription pain medication say a family member or friend gave it to them. This family member or friend had not used all the medication from a previous prescription.
Follow these strategies to keep opioids safely stored:
- Keep all bottles in a locked location. Don’t leave opioid bottles on counters or in places where others could easily get them. Plan ahead for where you will keep them so they are out of reach of children, vulnerable adults and pets.
- Similarly, plan how you will dispose of remaining medication after your pain has eased. Keeping opioids around the house for future need is not safe and increases the chances that they may be misused.
Once you are done taking opioids, throw out unused medication by following one of these steps:
- Call your local city offices, police department or hospital to ask about 24/7 boxes where you can drop off unused drugs.
- Remove the unused medication from the bottle and mix it with something that no person or animal would want to eat, such as cat litter or coffee grounds. Place the mixture in a sealed, plastic bag, and throw the bag in the trash.
- Buy special bags that you can use to throw out medications. They are called “deactivation disposal bags” (for example, Deterra™). You can get them at many pharmacies.
- If you are not able to use any of these methods to dispose of opioid medication, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that you flush your medications down the toilet. It is safer to do this than to keep it in your home.
- Ask your pharmacist where to find boxes where you can drop off unused medication. Your pharmacist also might have special medication-deactivating bags for pill disposal.
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