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Can House Arrest be Revoked Due to Taking Prescription Medications

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  • 11-28-2017, 01:19 PM
    miska
    Can House Arrest be Revoked Due to Taking Prescription Medications
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Indiana
    I am on house arrest. During this time I had surgery and was prescribed hydrocodone. The prescription says drug expires Aug. 2017. No refills. I had taken 3 total 3 days in a row. I had a Doctors appt. coming up but I was in pain. I had a urine drug screen showing positive for hydrocodone. They want to revoke my house arrest because they said it was illegal for me take an expired prescription. Do I understand correctly, the expiration date is provided by the drug manufacturer and pharmacy ? The date is their guarantee the drug is still at its full potential. The expiration date also relieves them of liability if taken after the expiration date. Thank You.
  • 11-28-2017, 01:30 PM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    For a August 2017 expiration date the actual prescription must have been written well over a year ago. That prescription is no longer valid.
  • 11-28-2017, 04:10 PM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    And even if 2017 is a typo, and you meant to say 2018, that would mean the RX was written and filled in August of this year (2017) making the RX three months old. There is no way that you had surgery and three months later you are still in pain. Even if you were still in pain, the RX would not last you more then 30 days and if you took a 30 day RX and turned it into a 90 day RX, you aren't in pain.

    More detailed.

    An uncontrolled prescription is valid for 1 year after it is written.

    Controlled III, IV and V are valid for 180 days

    Your script, Controlled II is valid for 30 days.

    Controlled I is not a valid substance.
  • 11-28-2017, 04:29 PM
    L-1
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    I was hoping for some clarification.

    The effectiveness of drugs diminish with age. The expiration date on most prescription bottles usually refers to the date upon which the effectiveness of the medication it contains is expected to drop below a certain standard. It may still work, but not just as well. I am unaware of any law prohibiting a patient from continuing to possess medication lawfully prescribed to them after the expiration date. Can you cite any authority for prohibition?

    OTOH, I don't know OP's situation, but it is the practice of substance abusers to purchase street drugs and to maintain an appearance of legitimacy, store them in old medication containers previously issued to them for the same drug. On that basis I can see the authorities refusing to believe OP legitimately possesses the meds taken.
  • 11-28-2017, 04:36 PM
    jk
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    Quote:

    Quoting Who'sThatGuy
    View Post
    And even if 2017 is a typo, and you meant to say 2018, that would mean the RX was written and filled in August of this year (2017) making the RX three months old. There is no way that you had surgery and three months later you are still in pain. Even if you were still in pain, the RX would not last you more then 30 days and if you took a 30 day RX and turned it into a 90 day RX, you aren't in pain.

    More detailed.

    An uncontrolled prescription is valid for 1 year after it is written.
    Controlled III, IV and V are valid for 180 days
    Your script, Controlled II is valid for 30 days.

    Controlled I is not a valid substance.

    I have to disagree with you. Some people try to not use pain meds any more than absolutely necessary. A doc can write a scrip with “take as needed” and a patient could make it last 90 days or longer depending on the quantity.

    The one year is a “best if used by” date where the manufacture must guarantee at least 90% efficacy compared to fresh meds.

    To your 30 day rule;

    From the DOJ:

    https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/p...t/section5.htm
    Quote:

    Schedule II Substances

    Schedule II controlled substances require a written prescription which must be signed by the practitioner. There is no federal time limit within which a Schedule II prescription must be filled after being signed by the practitioner.
    While some states and many insurance carriers limit the quantity of controlled substance dispensed to a 30-day supply, there are no specific federal limits to quantities of drugs dispensed via a prescription. For Schedule II controlled substances, an oral order is only permitted in an emergency situation.
    as to not being in pain 3 months after surgery; some people live in pain for the rest of their lives. Along with that a doctor or especially pain clinic will attempt to have patient use as little pain med to bring them to a level of functionality.

    While the op may very well just be getting high, there are situstions where there wouldn’t be anything unusual about the presence of meds as noted.
  • 11-28-2017, 06:31 PM
    Mr. Knowitall
    Re: Can House Arrest be Revoked Due to Taking Prescription Medications
    Quote:

    Quoting miska
    View Post
    My question involves criminal law for the state of: Indiana
    I am on house arrest. During this time I had surgery and was prescribed hydrocodone. The prescription says drug expires Aug. 2017. No refills. I had taken 3 total 3 days in a row. I had a Doctors appt. coming up but I was in pain. I had a urine drug screen showing positive for hydrocodone. They want to revoke my house arrest because they said it was illegal for me take an expired prescription. Do I understand correctly, the expiration date is provided by the drug manufacturer and pharmacy ? The date is their guarantee the drug is still at its full potential. The expiration date also relieves them of liability if taken after the expiration date. Thank You.

    You did not state a time table, which is resulting in some confusion in the posts above.

    If you are being routinely drug tested during your probation, it stands to reason that you have a substance abuse history and have been ordered not to use certain drugs during your probation. You may also be ordered to get permission from your probation or parole officer before taking a controlled substance, even with a prescription. Your probation or parole officer does not care about the date the medication expires -- the issue is that this is apparently a very old prescription.

    If we are to assume that you had surgery and had permission to take pain medication in association with the surgery, the problem would be that you held onto medication for some undisclosed period of time and then resumed taking it without a new prescription. Your parole or probation officer has no way of knowing if you in fact held onto some medication for weeks or months after your initial recovery from the surgery, or if you bought some hydrocodone on the street.

    As you saw a doctor after taking the medication, perhaps your doctor can provide documentation that you had a significant pain condition that warranted your taking the medication during the days leading up to the appointment. That's not necessarily going to resolve the issue, but it may help.
  • 11-28-2017, 07:12 PM
    miska
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    Thank you for the reply. You answered my question. Obviously I am not an Attorney but I couldn't find a law stating you couldn't possess expired medicine that was prescribed to you. I don't buy street drugs, but when you give that scenario I do understand why this would raise question.
    The reason I took them was not for pain from the previous surgery. I was in pain due to another condition and I took them until I got in
    to see my Doctor. I do realize you shouldn't take medicine for any other condition than what it was originally prescribed, but honestly how
    many people do ? Again, thank you for the information.
  • 11-28-2017, 07:51 PM
    Who'sThatGuy
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    Quote:

    Quoting miska
    View Post
    Thank you for the reply. You answered my question. Obviously I am not an Attorney but I couldn't find a law stating you couldn't possess expired medicine that was prescribed to you. I don't buy street drugs, but when you give that scenario I do understand why this would raise question.
    The reason I took them was not for pain from the previous surgery. I was in pain due to another condition and I took them until I got in
    to see my Doctor. I do realize you shouldn't take medicine for any other condition than what it was originally prescribed, but honestly how
    many people do ? Again, thank you for the information.

    FYI, make sure you stay clean as they will drop another test on you at anytime.
  • 11-28-2017, 08:17 PM
    Mercy&Grace
    Re: The Legalities of Taking Expired Prescription Medications
    Quote:

    Quoting Who'sThatGuy
    View Post
    And even if 2017 is a typo, and you meant to say 2018, that would mean the RX was written and filled in August of this year (2017) making the RX three months old. There is no way that you had surgery and three months later you are still in pain. Even if you were still in pain, the RX would not last you more then 30 days and if you took a 30 day RX and turned it into a 90 day RX, you aren't in pain.

    More detailed.

    An uncontrolled prescription is valid for 1 year after it is written.

    Controlled III, IV and V are valid for 180 days

    Your script, Controlled II is valid for 30 days.

    Controlled I is not a valid substance.

    The info regarding a prescription expiring is the time frame it has to be filled in. It is customary for all prescriptions for tablets to state the prescription expires 365 days,after filling. That means the quality cannot be guaranteed. But, manufacturers expiration dates for tablet are almost always about 5 or more from when they are manufactured. This date is only in the bottle that comes from the manufacturer. Once a,prescription leaves the pharmacy. There is no way of knowing what conditions it is exposed to that might affect the quality of the medication.

    If the OP is having pain severe enough to require tho medication tho long after it,was,filled. He should have seen his doctor about the pain before now.
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