Are expired medications safe to consume? Here’s what experts say

Amid drug shortages, experts say Canadians should avoid stockpiling and consuming expired medications that may have long lost their potency.

Canadians should avoid stockpiling and consuming expired medication, some experts say, as drug shortages continue to trouble the country.

“The advice is always if you have expired medications, you should dispose of them rather than use them. The real reason for this is that with medications, the expiry date is really the date that you can guarantee that the specific dose (on the bottle) is the dose you can expect to receive (benefits for) when you take it,” Kelly Grindrod, associate professor of pharmacy at the University of Waterloo, told Global News.

Grindrod said this advice applies to all expired drugs, whether in tablet or liquid form.

However, if someone does consume expired medication by accident, Grindrod clarifies that it won’t pose any serious risk or danger to the body. It will only mean that they are not getting the dose they’re hoping to get for their ailment.

“The biggest risk is that they’re not going to be effective,” she said. “If you’ve done this and found out afterward that the bottle was expired, I’m not sure I’d worry about that. But that doesn’t mean … go ahead and do it.”

Grindrod explains that drugs degrade over time, and some degrade faster than others, depending on what kind of medication it is and if it was stored in a hot or humid place — that can make it degrade sooner than usual.

“So instead of getting a dose (worth) of, say, 300 milligrams … you might only get 200 milligrams of the (product’s effectiveness) or 150 milligrams. … So, (they) are less likely to be effective,” she said.

Now, does that mean there would be no side effects from consuming expired medications? Grindrod said she’s “not sure” that can be said.