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Breaking down the risks of sharing prescription medication

A majority of people in Milwaukee have the best intentions at heart. To that end, patients may share their prescription medication with family and friends in need. Despite a person’s good intentions, selling or otherwise giving prescription medication to someone else is illegal.  

Abington – Jefferson Health explores the many risks of sharing prescription medication. Patients need to know how their kindness can unintentionally backfire on them and their loved ones.  

Pain meds are powerful and dangerous 

While providing a great deal of relief to those in pain, opioids and other pain meds are both powerful and habit-forming when not used correctly. A friend or family member sharing someone else’s prescription medication could have an unknown health condition that may have a negative interaction with pain meds.  

The physical complication could be something else 

A doctor should be the one to diagnose a condition, not a well-meaning friend. Medication received from a friend may not address symptoms that look like one health condition but are actually something else. Taking the wrong medication could have horrible side effects.  

Drugs could interact 

Friends and family members could already take medication before taking non-prescribed meds. Together, both pharmaceuticals could have an adverse reaction, notes Pharmacy Times. Depending on the impact of that reaction, the person sharing her or his prescription could face criminal charges. 

Doses need to be exact  

Medicine is most effective when it is the right dose. Someone sharing medication does not know how much of a dose another person needs, which can lead to adverse side effects and health risks.  

Ideally, all prescription medications should remain locked up or hidden. Even if a person does not share prescription meds, someone could swipe pills left out in the open. 

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