How can I legally get rid of excess unwanted medicine?

[pdq]

Won’t go into details, but I now have a huge $120 bottle of medication (prescribed by vet) that was useless for the condition in which it was prescribed. In fact, I found out a few days into giving the stuff - in which the patient showed zero signs of improvement and even backslid in its recovery - that studies showed it was poorly absorbed by horses and often not at all by ponies. The patient is a pony.

So…what do I do with this medicine? I don’t want it or need it and won’t use it again, it is 500 pills that the vet legally can’t take it back for a refund, but I don’t want to toss them in the trash if it can be used by someone else. As it is prescription would giving it away be an issue?

Couldn’t find any recent threads on this type of issue, so thought I’d ask with a new thread. TIA.

[saultgirl]

You probably can’t legally give it away. You could contact your vet or pharmacy and they should be able to dispose of it for you.

[newhorsemommy]

A horse rescue might take it. Or your local animal control (ours takes unused meds and is very appreciative!). Or you might be able to dispose of it wherever you can dispose of unwanted human meds. Where I live there are drop-off locations for old prescription meds and they also take veterinary meds.

[ShotenStar]

Check with your local police department and / or a local pharmacy. In my area, the police have an “unwanted meds” drop box in their HQ - they will take all sorts of pills, humand and animal, but not sharps or liquids. I have used it several times when I cleaned out my horse meds box.

Star

[MissAriel]

I know my local Walgreens has a disposal program - if you are near a Walgreens you might check them first.

I donated some medications to a local rescue when my old dog passed, so some are willing to take them, but some might not.

Please don’t just toss in the trash. At least dispose of it where it will be appropriately destroyed.

[Mango20]

Your vet may take it back and give it to another client in need. If not, I think every community has medication disposal facilities or special days for human medicine, so I’m sure they’d take your vet meds too.

[findthedistance]

My vet will take back medications I won’t be using. No refund, but she’ll pass them along to another client in need. Usually one of the rescues she works with. She does not take back expired/unusable drugs – those I’m supposed to dispose of through the county take-back program.

[Lord_Helpus]

I don’t know of a vet who would pass along open/used meds. But a rescue might be very grateful for the pills. If you do not know any in your immediate area, try FB; most of them have FB pages. PS: My vet has no problem in my using meds which are within 1 year of their use-by date. After that, he does. Since your meds are quite new, you have a fairly long time to find a charity who would be thankful for your generosity.

[CL_Moonriver]

Take it to any pharmacy. They will properly dispose of it for you.

[HoofHeartSoul]

Can you find a person that has a valid prescription for it for a horse and give it to them or is that illegal?

I also want to venture a guess: is the medication Isoxuprine?

[tabula_rashah]

Our vets will take them and give them to someone who’s having trouble affording them. Personally I’d just sell them to someone by word of mouth

[CL_Moonriver]

To the OP, please ignore everyone who is telling you to give it to someone else who needs it or sell it to someone else who needs it. Assuming you live in the United States, it is a federal crime for you to transfer a prescription medication to someone else. If you get caught, you will end up a convicted felon. You might even do jail time. At the very least, you will end up with a very large fine that will be in the thousands of dollars range.

Just take it to a pharmacy. Any pharmacy will be able to properly dispose of it for you for free.

Edit: I’ve never heard of vets who will take back medications. But if you can find one who will do so and then give the medication to someone in need (as others have suggested)? Then by all means, do so.

But whatever you do, do not give it away yourself, or sell it to someone else. It’s a federal crime, and you will be in serious criminal trouble if you get caught. the FDA doesn’t take that kind of stuff lightly.

[x-halt-salute]

@CL Moonriver

But whatever you do, do not give it away yourself, or sell it to someone else. It’s a federal crime, and you will be in serious criminal trouble if you get caught. the FDA doesn’t take that kind of stuff lightly.

While it isn’t legal to distribute prescription medications without a prescription, I don’t think the FDA really cares much about relatively small amounts of non-controlled prescription substances that show little potential for addiction or misuse changing hands in a one-off situation.

Federal agents haven’t beaten down my door when I’ve given a tube of banamine with my horse’s name on the label to a barnmate with a colicky horse. My vet hasn’t ever had any qualms about a dose drawn from the bottle of dex prescribed to a trainer’s horse being administered to a client’s horse. The first aid kit I used to keep as a barn manager had a few different horses’ names on the prescription drugs it contained, and some of those things were dispensed to different humans, but nobody expected that they were there only in case the named animal needed them. And the former DEA agent who took over as barn manager when I left continued to use the same first aid kit without batting an eye at the matching of prescriptions and recipients. Sharing prescription meds in barns happens all the time without “serious criminal trouble”. Legality and likelihood of prosecution are very different things.

Is anyone really going to waste their energy trying to prosecute a misdemeanor case over a horse owner looking to find a way to help someone in need by sharing an unused bottle of isoxuprine or some equioxx or whatever? There are too many bigger fish to fry. Controlled substances are a different story (“serious criminal trouble” is more likely if you decide to share some unused oxycontin and manage to get caught).

OP, I’d recommend chatting with your vet as a starting point – if they’re not interested in taking it back in order to share with someone in need, they may have some good guidance about whether there’s any other option besides a community drug take-back/disposal program.

[newhorsemommy]

I doubt my city animal shelter/control is committing a federal crime when they accept leftover unused prescription medications. When both of our senior dogs passed, I took all of their leftover meds to the shelter.

[CindyCRNA]

I would horde it. Things don’t expire nearly as fast as they say they do and you always need something down the road.

[pdq]

@HoofHeartSoul

Can you find a person that has a valid prescription for it for a horse and give it to them or is that illegal?

Ethically speaking not without a vet signing off on it, and I doubt a vet would because they can’t be sure of the providence/authenticity of the drug, if it had been switched by some other drug, etc, despite it being in a commercially marked container. Once a drug is out of the recognized mainstream of distribution, it becomes problematic for passing it on. I would hazard a strong suspicion that all “surrendered” drugs are quietly destroyed for just such a reason, and not recycled.

However, giving it away shouldn’t be illegal because it isn’t a controlled substance.

Bute and banamine are about the only equine drug I’d share, or borrow, or “lend” (give away) without a second thought to another horse owner because they are such a common, long standing, often used arsenal in the equine medicine chest. This drug, however, is a slightly different story as it isn’t in common use in horses as it wasn’t developed for equines in mind, and thus wouldn’t be found in the everyday equine medicine box. So the probability of casually bumping into another horse person that has a need for this medication is slim to null. I’d have to actively ask around, and I’m reluctant to do so.

I also want to venture a guess: is the medication Isoxuprine?
Sorry, but no.

And to the suggestion of talking to my vet: I have done so. Not happy with the response. (Basically a shoulder shrug) Therein lies my issue of what to do to be rid of this expensive med that isn’t needed or wanted and will not be used for any of my other animals.

Thanks to everyone that posted suggestions. I sincerely appreciate your thoughts. I believe I will talk to my local pharmacy (as this medication is human grade) and see what they recommend.

[TheMoo]

Whatever happened to just flushing it? Or throwing it out? Seems to be the simplest thing.

[Where_sMyWhite]

@TheMoo

Whatever happened to just flushing it? Or throwing it out? Seems to be the simplest thing.

Ummm, no. Please don’t. Please don’t add medications to potential ground water or other uses. That water you flush does get re-used. Please don’t throw it out and add it to landfills. Contaminants in the landfill also usually end up in groundwater

Where I live, there are boxes for unused/unwanted meds in the police department offices. Boxes are locked and emptied, often daily.

[tabula_rashah]

So what is it exactly?
Our local dump has a medication turn in day a few times a year- you could try something like that. But really unless you’re shoving oxy or roofies or something at your pony, I think you’re making a mountain out of a molehill

[TheMoo]

@Where'sMyWhite

Ummm, no. Please don’t. Please don’t add medications to potential ground water or other uses. That water you flush does get re-used. Please don’t throw it out and add it to landfills. Contaminants in the landfill also usually end up in groundwater

Where I live, there are boxes for unused/unwanted meds in the police department offices. Boxes are locked and emptied, often daily.

I bring it up because it is an option if that type of disposal is not available. Not saying it’s the best one.