Recently, a generally healthy friend of mine had two small, unrelated surgeries over the course of a few months. For the first, a small operation on his hand, he received a prescription for 30 oxycodone pills. He used one the night after surgery, to make sure pain wouldn’t wake him. Over the next few days he used a few over the counter acetaminophen tablets for his modest discomfort, and then was all done. Two months later, a small suspicious lesion had to be removed from his leg by a different doctor. Again, he got 30 tablets of oxycodone. He used one the first night and continued with acetaminophen. Problem solved.
But not really. The issue is that now this friend has 58 unnecessary oxycodone pills. Studies show that patients like him take many fewer pills than prescribed; one study of 250 patients counted 4,639 leftover pills from single prescriptions. Like many homes, my friend’s is frequently visited by friends and family members, including children, some of whom have struggled with addiction and may find those drugs tempting. It’s an invitation to misuse.
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