b'Injectable Medications personal information with a black permanentPatients who use injectable medications marker before throwing the container away. are familiar with using a sharps container for Spring cleaning your medication cabinetused needles. Sharps containers can also be is just as essential as spring cleaning the restused to dispose of unused or expired injectable of your home. Stay safe.medicationsvials, prelled syringes, and For more information on safely disposingampules. Sharps containers should only be of medications, ask your local pharmacist orlled three-fourths full and should never be visit the FDA Safe Disposal of Medicines website:overlled. Secure the three-quarters full sharps www.fda.gov/drugs/ensuring-safe-use-container in a mail-back box to be returned medicine/safe-disposal-medicines.to the company for disposal.Inhaled MedicationsInhaled medications can be included inthe Drug Take Back Program or can be safelydisposed in household trash or recycle. Sinceinhalersareaerosolized,keepthemawayfrom res or heated conditions as they couldexplode or catch re. PatchesUsed and unused patches should not becut or torn as this can expose the medicationinside at dangerous quantities. All patches canbe included in the Drug Take Back Program.Patches can also be disposed in the trash if theDrug Take Back Program is an not availableoptions. Before placing in the trash, fold theadhesive side onto itself so that no adhesiveis exposed. This reduces accidental exposureto children and pets who may nd a way intothe trashcan. Remember to scratch outyour personal informationWhen disposing of any medications by anyof the routes described above, remember toremove all personal information on medicationcontainers or labels. This includes your name,address, date of birth, phone number, andprescription number. You can remove labelsand shred or burn them, or cross out your39 msfocusmagazine.org'