General Question

Reggz's avatar

Will expired morphine still be effective?

Asked by Reggz (149points) April 21st, 2012

I have a bottle of morphine sulphate from a previous surgery, and just noticed the expiry date is April 2012. Will it still work? Is it useless or dangerous in any way?

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7 Answers

Coloma's avatar

Most likely.
Expiration dates do not automatically turn a drug or product bad overnight. Most medications can last many months after their expiration dates, and may lose some potency but will not hurt you. Now I am NOT familiar with morphine, so to be sure check with a pharmacist.

If the medication is in liquid form rather than tablet, I do not know, so do NOT take my word for it, however, generally speaking, most pill/tablet forms of medications can outlive their shelf lives by lengthy periods of time.

janbb's avatar

Well since that’s this month, I would think it would be fine. If it were 2007, I would be more doubtful.

woodcutter's avatar

I can PM my mailing address. I’ll let you know.

marinelife's avatar

It’s probably fine for now.

filmfann's avatar

It should be mentioned that some drugs do not become weaker with age, they become stronger! This medicine should be fine, since the expiration is this month, but be careful with drugs well past expiration dates.

WestRiverrat's avatar

I would be careful who I told about the medicine, especially if your prescription had an expiration date. You may want to contact your pharmacist and ask about how to safely dispose of it.

woodcutter's avatar

I would be really careful with that, meaning don’t allow anyone else have it, really. If they get a bad reaction and they tell it was yours, your butt is going to be in a sling for that. Trafficking I think they would call it.

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