Disposing of Medications after Someone Dies
After funerals at funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL, you will start cleaning out your deceased loved one’s things and you will very likely find some of their unused medications. All the medications should be disposed of. Many people, as they near the end of life, are on comfort-care medications, which can include medications like morphine and other opioid medications, as well as sedatives or anti-anxiety medications. These are dangerous to leave just lying around, but you may not be aware of ways to safely get rid of them.
Keeping unneeded prescription medications is a bad practice for everyone. However, when a loved one dies, there may be medications that can be dangerous or, if taken, could lead to addiction. It’s imperative to get rid of these medications as quickly as possible.
Accidental overdoses, especially in small children, are a real possibility, simply because young children are curious about everything. Most of the prescription medications that elderly people take are dispensed in bottles that have easy-to-open lids, which means that they will be easy for small children to open as well.
About 90% of accidental drug overdoses in children under the age of five occurred because they took medication they found while they were not supervised. Many medications are colored, and young children may think they are candy. But taking these medications could lead to serious injury or death.
Prescription medications can also be a gateway for heroin or fentanyl use. Many dying people are on very powerful pain medications to make them comfortable during the dying process. Some of these are likely opioid drugs. Morphine is a very common opioid drug given in the last few days of life.
Although teenagers are the most likely to try these prescription medications, the reality is that the road to addiction could start for anyone at any age if they decide to try these medications. Researchers who looked at data compiled from 2007 to 2011 found that people who’d taken painkillers when they were not experiencing pain were 19 times more likely to move into heroin use.
Improperly disposing of prescription medications, such as flushing them down the toilet, presents many dangers to the water supply. These medications can be ingested by fish, which when ingested by humans, can cause endocrine disruption.
There are several ways you can properly dispose of unused prescription medications.
One way is to drop them off at a pharmacy drop-off box. Both Walgreens and CVS have these boxes available in many of their stores. The medications will then be properly disposed of by waste disposal companies.
Most prescription medications have instructions for safe disposal. If you don’t find this, mix the medications in cat litter, used coffee grounds, or dirt and place them in a sealed plastic bag and throw them in the trash. Be sure to remove all personal information from the bottles before disposing of them.
The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has a program called the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, which occurs in April and October. The DEA will set up temporary collection locations in grocery stores, community centers, pharmacies, and Boys and Girls Clubs where unused prescriptions can be dropped off.
If your loved one was in home hospice care when they died, the hospice agency will take care of safely disposing of the medications they supplied, including the comfort care medications.
If you want to know more about safe medication disposal at funeral homes in Tallahassee, FL, our compassionate and experienced staff at Lifesong Funerals & Cremations can help. You can come by our funeral home at 20 S. Duval St., Quincy, FL 32351, or you can contact us today at (850) 627-1111.
