Wasted pills.

[PurplePixie]

You are supposed to return unwanted prescribed drugs to a chemist & I suppose they just incinerate them. Aren't there any charities that could use them in the third world...places like Sudan which must be crying out for antibiotics? It was funkylads question that got me wondering.

[AllYourBase]

No - as there has been a prolonged period where drugs in the home have been exposed to all manner of situtaions there can be no effective quality control, expiry date monitoring, batch recall, temperature monitoring, environment monitoring, gurantee of no tampering etc etc this is simply NOT possible. The moment you take your drugs out of the chemist they can never be re-used. This question raises a good point about the scandal of NHS wastage that is caused by Doctors over prescribing drugs withut either being sure of long term continuation or checking for effectiveness and tolerance. As pressures on GPs grow, they are tempted to prescribe say 3 months supply of a drug, in order to reduce the nummber of follow up appointments required. A patient is then allergic/intolerant/unimproved etc and the whole course is wasted. In reality, the cost of most antibiotics is not expensive, even for third world countries. Anti HIV drugs are more useful abroad, but less common in the UK, and more expensive so there is no opportunity there for developing countries to be assisted in this way. What must be stressed is the utter importance of returning unwanted medicines to the chemist rather than disposal or hoarding at home. Returning them to the chemist helps everyone by: Preventing the accidental taking of expired or inappropriate medication. Reducing overdoses. Reducing pollution by utilising correct disposal routes. Allowing th government to see the scale of NHS wastage. Rant over.....

[PurplePixie]

Thanks SimonC...got it!

[redmug100]

Antibiotics are the one drug that should not be returned to the chemist. They won't work propally unless you finish the bottle. By not finishing the course you may allow the strongest bacteria you're trying to iliminate to survive and even build resistance to the antibiotic.