Question: My medication has changed significantly recently, and I have medication I am no longer taking. What do I do with it?

Answer: I often speak about medications, the costs and how to obtain them, but this is the other end of the medication lifecycle. Do not flush your unused medications down the toilet! Those medications/chemicals are toxic to our water table and the surrounding environment.

Medications are no longer needed for many reasons, you no longer take it, medication that has expired, medications not needed due to a death or moving into a nursing home (the Pharmacy can’t accept the medications we have already purchased). Now what do we do with them?

Your question is very timely as National Prescription Drug Take Back Day is Saturday April 27. This is just a few short days away.

In Chautauqua County there will be two locations where you can turn in your unused or expired prescription medications from 10a to 2p on Saturday April 27, 2024. The North County site is Alstar EMS at 738 Monroe Street in Dunkirk, N.Y.. The South County site is The Chautauqua Center at 107 Institute Street in Jamestown, N.Y.. These Prescriptions Drug Take Back Day locations cannot accept liquids or needles.

If you cannot make this event, there are a number of locations in the area that have unused medication receptacles that you can bring your medication to and drop off. The U.S. Department of Justice/DEA has a web tool called Diversion Control that allows you to put in a zip code and find Controlled Substance Disposal Locations near you. This is to be used for all medications, but are designed for those that are considered Controlled Substances, like pain medication, narcotics, etc. Locally the Police Department locations, and many pharmacies have dropbox type services that allow you to drop off unused medications.

There may be another alternative, a not for profit founded at Stanford University and a Y Combinator Alumni, called SIRUM. SIRUM allows you to donate and repurpose your unused medications through a specific approved process. This process permits you to FedEx unused medication to SIRUM to redistribute to those in need. The medication must meet the following criteria: cannot be a controlled substance, will not expire for at least 5 months, is in sealed packaging, and does not require refrigeration. There is a shipping charge ($10). Questions can be directed to 650-488-7434 or hello@sirum.org. Further information is available on the web at www.sirum.org.

I think this is a great idea and hope that more medication can be ‘repurposed’ in this fashion.

Medication usage for all of us involves a plan for obtaining it, organizing it, taking it and for the dispensing of it and disposal of medication not used.

When trying a new medication, try to get a 7 day or 14 day supply first to see if you have any adverse reaction to it (that is the purpose of free samples), then fill a 30-day supply, then switch to 90-day if you choose to continue to take it regularly. This slower purchasing of medication could save you money and prevent unused medication from being in your home.

I would ask you to think carefully before using automatic refills. This can produce many excess medications being put into our system. Once filled and mailed these medications cannot be returned. This is a significant waste of perfectly good medications and dollars. An insurance company and YOU are paying for this unused medication.

We must also consider that we never know what is going to happen to any of us. If we are getting 30-day supply instead of 90-day supplies or calling to order our medication when the bottle is looking empty we could be saving ourselves and our healthcare system significant dollars.

I understand that a 90-day supply saves us money, but if the medication goes unused, you paid for medications you didn’t need.

I hope you can get to the Drug Take Back Day locations and dispose of your unused, unwanted medications in a safe way for you and our environment!

Janell Sluga is a Geriatric Care Manager helping seniors in our community access services and insurance. To reach her, please email editorial@post-journal.com.