Safe disposal of unused medicine.
The story is told time and again of people who give unused medicine to a sick person for whom that medication was not originally intended. It is a scenario where you might as well give poison to a healthy friend.
Care must be taken when disposing of unwanted medicine. Animals and people and drug addicts who scour the rubbish dump thinks unused medicine has value. To them it is booty. If they are going to give that old medicine to another human, that person is going to get sick and can even die or end up with a mental condition.
One might argue that if someone wants to be stupid and take unwanted disposed medicine, then they must bear the consequences of being stupid. However one must think of the innocent victims such as animals and children who is at the mercy of a stupid person that gives it to them.
Syringes that was used also carries disease. Syringes should never be reused. They must not be disposed of in the household rubbish.
Advice by the medical care specialists is to break syringes and medicine and mix it with a substance such as cat litter and flour before handing it to your local pharmacy.
Medicine given to people who do not need it will cause sickness and side effects. It can lead to a heart attack or a loss of consciousness. Reused syringes will spread fatal diseases. Therefore every body who wants to dispose of unused medicine should consider the person who might be innocent and with whom an irresponsible individual shares the medicine that is no longer needed by those who disposed of it.
For safety sake, take the unused medicine to your pharmacy. They can throw it away safely.
The question is: Are you going to play it safe or will you never consider those that are innocently exposed to your old medicine that you never disposed of in the right way?
accreditation: Dischem, google images (labelled for re-use)