REGINA – The Saskatchewan RCMP took part in the second annual National Prescription Drug Drop Off Day by doing just that – taking in prescription drugs.
The RCMP Kindersley and Saskatoon detachments and ‘F’ division headquarters in Regina accepted medications between noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday.
If you missed the openings, that’s not a problem; the majority of community pharmacies in the province take in and dispose of drugs all year.
It’s important to properly dispose drugs for a few reasons: putting drugs in the trash can lead to pets and wildlife consuming drugs; disposing of drugs down the drain can lead to the drugs seeping into the groundwater; and unattended prescription drugs left at home can also get into the wrong hands.
As for the pack rats who believe keeping leftover prescription drugs at home for future ailments is a good idea:
“You’re prescribed certain medications for a particular condition, sometimes if you take them for another condition, it’s not going to work properly for you,” said Kim Smith, London Drugs pharmacist.
“If you don’t have the infection, you’re just wasting your time with the antibiotic and then you’re also starting to create bugs that are not going to be susceptible to antibiotics either.”
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