Univ. of Iowa shares how to clean out the medicine cabinet for New Years

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – With the New Year comes a fresh start and that means organizing closets or drawers, including the medicine cabinet.

The University of Iowa is sharing ways to tackle that ‘to-do’ list safely.

Check prescriptions and over-the-counter medications for their expiration dates. Not all medications should just be thrown away as regular garbage.

Some pharmacies can take back certain medications to dispose of them. Many local police and government facilities also have medication disposal boxes.

The idea of getting these unused or out-of-date medications out of the home is to prevent misuse and abuse of the drugs.

”We always think about pain medications, sleep medications, anti-anxiety medications of being the biggest risk but sometimes people will take them not really knowing what their use is for and just try them,” said Dr. Stevie Veach, associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Iowa.

Veach said anyone cleaning out a home is likely to find old or leftover medications.

”Having medications in your cabinet has a risk of somebody getting to them accidentally such as a young child or even a pet where they could be exposed to that medication and it might be harmful,” Veach said.

Removing those medications removed the chance for accidental consumption and it prevents others from using the medications for the wrong reasons.

”One of the main ways people get a hold of medications for misuse and abuse is friends and family members. They access them being in their home but yes, if you’re just throwing them in the garbage there is a small chance that they could be sought out by somebody that way by going through a garbage as well,” Veach said.

Medications can also be made un-useable.

”It’s usually a little packet or a powder with a carbon product in it that you mix the medication with then you can dispose of it in your trash because you’ve now made it unusable for somebody else to get access to,” Veach said.

Veach said those medicine disposal packets like DisposeRx are available for purchase over the counter. Some pharmacies may be able to offer them for free to Iowa residents through a grant from the Iowa Board of Pharmacy and Iowa Department of Public Health.

But if medicine disposal packets can’t be accessed or the medication needs to be disposed of quickly, the medication should be mixed with other things before being tossed.

”You can mix it with some substance that might deter someone from taking it so the DEA and the FDA recommend used coffee grounds or kitty litter or something like that that you can mix in with the medication and put it into your regular trash,” Veach said.

Few medications become harmful after the expiration date, but some could. It’s best to check with the pharmacy for additional information.

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