How to keep children safe from prescription medicine

It’s the perfect time to do some “spring cleaning” with your unused or expired prescription medications.

It’s fairly common for families to keep any remaining prescription medicine after use. While the reasons can vary from wanting to store them for at a later date to forgetting to dispose of the medication, parents don’t always fully understand the dangers of keeping prescription medicine.

What are the dangers?

According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, 4.9% of youth ages 12 to 17 have reported nonmedical use of prescription medication in the past year. Access to these drugs is often a result of prescription medication — especially pain medicine — being found in the medicine cabinets of family and friends.

One of the best ways to keep your children safe from prescription medicine is to keep it out of reach or dispose of it properly and quickly if it’s old or not being used.

Many pharmacies and health systems, like The Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and Bon Secours Mercy Health, are trying to make it easier for patients to dispose of any unused medication. This includes providing drug deactivation bags with any opioid prescription and exploring alternative options for pain management following surgery.

What can you do?

If you’ve received specific disposal instructions from your doctor or pharmacist for your unused or expired medicine, follow those instructions. To help keep your home safe, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests taking these precautions:

• Put your medicines in a safe place so that others can't take them. You might want to lock them up somewhere.
• Watch this short video on how to get rid of medicines when you don't need them anymore.
• Take medications to a local Drug Take Back Day event. Search your area using the collection site locator on the Drug Enforcement Administration website.
• Mix the drugs with things like dirt, cat litter, or used coffee grounds and throw them out in your trash.
• Flush the drugs down the toilet. The FDA has created a “flush list” of medications. These include drugs that are sought-after for their misuse and/or abuse potential, or that can result in death from one dose if inappropriately taken.
• Keep track of cleaners, spray cans and other items in your house that people can inhale to get high. Keep these out of reach of children and young adults.

Throughout the year, you can find a drug take-back option or location near you.

For more information, read 3 ways to safely throw away old medicine.