I have one left over bottle of pain pills that I had from surgery. My question is how many pills and what kinds of your own prescription is too much for the law? I was mostly thinking about if I was ever in a self defense situation I could foresee Leo's searching my house. What is allowed and not allowed in terms of the law and likelihood of being charged with a crime like possession or attempt to distribute etc...
Are you allowed to keep your own prescribed pain killers?
- Thread starter John23
- Start date
XD40scinNC
New member
Even if you are involved in a self-defense shooting in your own home, cops still have no right to search the entire house without a warrant.
BigSlick
New member
I am not aware of any law from any state that prohibits a person from possessing legally prescribed drugs in your own house. The prescription from your doctor covers the legality issues. The usage may come into question but if any lawyer or DA thinks the height of your rose bushes will matter in court they will try to use it against you. That's why it is important to board the "keep your mouth shut" truck and don't say anything until you talk to a qualified attorney that deals with self defense issues should the need present itself.
Aside from the firearms issues, what purpose do you see in keeping a prescription drug if the condition for which it was prescribed has passed? Would you start using the prescription again based on your own self-diagnoses? Are you qualified to know whether any intervening changes in your health or other medication or even just life style would make use of that prescription inappropriate?
During a routine examination a physician gathers a significant amount of information that allows him or her to make relevant decisions about potentially hazardous medication. Skipping that step and going straight to the bottle isn't much different from playing russian roulette with your firearm.
During a routine examination a physician gathers a significant amount of information that allows him or her to make relevant decisions about potentially hazardous medication. Skipping that step and going straight to the bottle isn't much different from playing russian roulette with your firearm.
I never thought this day would occur.
Buddy were you born like this? Lots of people keep this stuff for worst case scenarios. And no, they don't collect significant amounts of information. If you've been prescribed it before with no issue, and you are in pain, you get the same stuff....... No other medical knowledge required. We are not talking about abuse of a drug, we are talking about use when a doctor can not be seen because one does not exist. Whole books written by doctors go over what to keep, and under what conditions. But they do not go over laws................. Though I'm fairly certain you keep your head in the sand about most of this stuff.
BigSlick
New member
John23,
You are new here so I will save you the trouble, yes I believe he was born that way.
Precious...a bunch of idiots playing doctor. No, intelligent people don't keep unused prescriptions. the mentally challenged might.
Farmhood
New member
Doctors? 
medical deaths come in # 6 @ 102,275 so far this year.
http://www.romans322.com/daily-death-rate-statistics.php
sinful nature is always hostile to God....
medical deaths come in # 6 @ 102,275 so far this year. http://www.romans322.com/daily-death-rate-statistics.php
sinful nature is always hostile to God....
S&W645
NRA Life Member
In my opinion, there is no such thing as perfectly good Vicodin. :tongue:
Depending on the markings on the bottle and the instructions from the doctor, it may be good to keep for up to a year. Wording such as "as needed" means that it is at the person whom the script was written for's discretion. A prescription I have is written just that way. Bottle can last from as little as 7 days to a full year+ for 90 pills.
XD40scinNC
New member
The discard after date on the prescription bottle is exactly 1 year from the date the prescription was filled, and has nothing to do with the time from the point it was manufactured.
reddragonrph
New member
If a drug is legally prescribed for you and is found in your home, then you are within the law. I have vicodin left over from my kidney stone. It was legally prescribed for me by a physician in a reasonable quantity. When the stone was gone I kept the prescription around, because the possibility of recurrence is reasonably high. I'm supposed to throw away what is essentially my property because my stone is gone? What if I get another one next month? I have to hit the ER again instead of taking the prescribed med and making a Dr's appt at the earliest opportunity? Hell no. An ER visit is several thousand dollars. If I can avoid that by taking a couple of my previously prescribed pain pills to make it through the night, then that is what I am going to do. I also have insomnia. Occasionally I will purposely take a drug holiday to see if I can get by without my med. So I end up with extra sleeping pills around. I have to throw them out? What if this attempt at doing without is a spectacular failure? I have to go back to the MD for a new prescription?
Common sense.
Common sense.
reddragonrph
New member
Of course, if you have hundreds of pills, all with different doctor and pharmacy names on them, making a clear case of Dr shopping for narcotics....that's different.
reddragonrph
New member
Edited because somehow I posted the same response twice. My apologies.
