~ Why ~
Why dispose of medication responsibly?
Reason #1: To help prevent contamination of the environment (particularly water).
Reason #2: To help prevent prescription drug abuse.
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When medication becomes unwanted, the unwanted medication should be disposed of responsibly.
Unwanted Medication
There are numerous reasons why medication becomes unwanted. Here are a few reasons:
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Expires: Nearly all medicinal substances have an expiration date.
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Rx Change: Often, a patient or the physician switches to a different medication before the old medication is fully used.
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Tolerance: Occasionally, a patient stops taking their medication because the side effects are not tolerable.
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Cured: The patient's ailment has been cured and the unused medication is no longer needed.
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Death: When a patient dies, their unused medication is left behind.
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Ineffective: A patient simply stops taking their medication because they think the medication is ineffective.
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Responsible medication disposal creates 2 benefits: environmental and societal.
ENVIRONMENTAL
Flushing medications down toilets causes the medication to become part of our ground water, lakes, rivers,
bays and oceans. Fish, shellfish, frogs, birds, wildlife and, yes, even our drinking water are all affected.
SOCIETAL
Needlessly keeping unwanted medications in an unlocked medicine cabinet or other locations around the house
can lead to diversion, abuse, poisoning and even death.
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The Big Red Med Disposal Box provides a responsible solution.
Once a medication has become unwanted, get rid of it by depositing it into a Big Red Med Disposal Box.
The unwanted medication will be completely incinerated at extremely high temperatures (approximately 1800 degrees F) reducing the pharmaceutical compounds to inert ash.
The Big Red Med Disposal Box helps to prevent water contamination and prescription drug abuse.