Take Back Day

The DEA periodically (every six months or so) sponsors "Take Back Days" on which people can safely dispose of unwanted prescription drugs.  Last Saturday, October 27, was the most recent.  I had been unaware of previous days but this time had been alerted by some timely internet advertisements.  My local police department had a collection site so I collected up a bunch of my expired prescription drugs and took them in.  This seems like a good idea.  The DEA is primarily concerned about controlled substances (and I did have some unused painkillers) but expired drugs can also become dangerous.  I had not taken this possibility too seriously and have sometimes ignored expiration dates but in collecting my unused prescriptions I saw in one case the pills had undergone some chemical reaction that had cause them to split open and when I (foolishly) opened the pill bottle to take a closer look I was greeted with a pungent odor. Obviously no one in their right mind would take these pills but it seems likely that pills can become dangerous in less obvious ways.