Medications--keep or toss?

Approximately a year ago, I had the distinct displeasure of being responsible for the disposal of a large amount of prescription medications that had been prescribed to a family member during her war on cancer. I didn't have a clue about how to dispose of medications since you can no longer flush them, and some of the drugs were not in a flushable form anyway. Probably, drugs can be taken to a hazardous waste disposal company, but that would have meant paying for the service. I wanted to keep expenses at zero and continued to look for a suitable solution. I finally found a locally owned pharmacy that would take the unused drugs. I asked what would likely happen to them and was told they would be either sent back to the manufacturers or sent to one of the medical charities that help the poor in 3rd World countries. That worked.

At the same time I was researching what to do, I was made aware of a study done by the Food and Drug Administration for the military that appeared on the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide. You can read the article here. The FDA concluded that most drugs were "perfectly good to use even 15 years after the expiration date."

With high drug costs and people losing their jobs and health insurance, this is rather important information to know. Honestly I've always kept leftover drugs, especially antibiotics and pain relievers, for that very reason.