'It can defintely harm': Unwanted or expired medication disposal program renewed in Sask.

Saskatchewan is continuing a program that seeks to reduce the harmful effects of unwanted and expired medications.

The Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan announced the renewal of the program on Tuesday – at the Northgate Medicine Shoppe in Regina.

Residents with unwanted or expired medication can take it to their local pharmacy where the drugs will be safely disposed of.

In the program’s first year, the amount of medication turned in to pharmacists jumped by 19 per cent.

The government advises against flushing unwanted drugs down the toilet – which can mean chemicals ending up in the water supply.

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The province provides $400,000 a year to help compensate pharmacists for the collection and safe disposal of the drugs.

“Here at the pharmacy, we often get drugs that are coming in vials and bottles from the 1960’s … back in glass bottles,” said Jarron Yee of Northgate Medicine Shoppe.

“So it is important, medications do go expired, and if a child takes them incorrectly, or goes into grandma’s medicine cabinet, it can definitely harm.”

Once turned in, the unwanted medications are put into special disposal boxes.

Those boxes are then collected by a company that ensures they don’t end up polluting the local environment.

With files from Gareth Dillistone.