Where Do You Dispose of Narcotics?

What is your hospital policy for this? Apparently,our pharmacy is drafting a new policy for disposal of narcotics. I'm specifically speaking of the syringes of injectables that your patient doesn't require. Pharmacy,because of potential access by drug seekers, does not want them to go into the sharps containers -which can be broken into. Many people squirt the injectables and toss the tablets down the sink drain. This,for certain, results in massive quantities of chemicals reaching the environment - in our case here,the ocean. I have a problem with that. What I've done for a number of years is to squirt the injectables onto absorbent paper in the garbage...paper towel -while the empty syringe and glass vial go into the sharps container. That,however, does not solve the problem of what to do with narcotic tablets.

What does your hospital sanction as the acceptable disposal policy?

Thanks!!