Do you have expired or unused medications sitting in your medicine cabinet? It's time to take them back to the pharmacy.
Drug Free Kids (DFK) Canada is leading a campaign called National Drug Drop-Off Month that invites Canadians to bring back their expired and unused prescriptions and over-the-counter medications to their local pharmacy for safe disposal.
According to the organization, a record amount of 725 tonnes of unused and expired medicine was recovered by Canadian pharmacies last year.
The goal of the campaign is to highlight the dangers of kids and teens getting ahold of prescription medications.
Marc Paris, Executive Director of DFK Canada, says the amount of pills that are returned to pharmacies have continued to increase over the years as more parents are becoming aware that drugs left in the medicine cabinet can be easily accessed by children.
"By returning these medications to our local pharmacies, we can reduce the risk of these substances being improperly used by teens and other people and keep pharmaceuticals out of our eco-systems. Working together, we can all help address problematic substance use in Canada," The Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, minister of health.