Oxycodone (CAS 76-42-6): storage and disposal

Harmful if swallowed would not on its own call for special storage, and that is the trap: the legal status decides, and oxycodone stays in the existing locked controlled drugs arrangement with the register up to date. Expired strips and bottles should be kept in a marked section, physically apart from dispensing stock, because modified-release and immediate-release tablets are easily confused when loose. Injection ampoules should stay in their cartons. Patient returned tablets are usually the worst-documented stock in the cabinet, often with mixed strengths in a single bottle, and they should remain sealed and separated from your own holding. Keep a clean count of what is out of date, rather than leaving it to the next audit.

Tablets normally look uniform, with a coating and a colour matching the strength printed on the pack, and the injection should be clear and colourless. Oxycodone itself gives few visual signs of ageing, so the expiry date and the batch number count for more than appearance. Things that are not normal include chipped or crushed tablets, tablets of different colours in one bottle, cracked ampoules or blisters that are split or partly emptied. Those signs are more likely to point to handling problems or diversion than to chemical change, so report them to the person responsible for controlled drugs. Damp clumping in a loose bottle can also occur with returned stock. Faded labels and missing batch details need recording in the register.

This does not go through our standard collection route. It is arranged by manual enquiry, and never goes down the drain or into general waste.

List strength, form, modified or immediate release, batch, expiry date and exact count against the register line, and separate your own stock from anything returned by patients. Oxycodone is not quoted online, and the online quote path does not take it. Where a holding is mixed or poorly documented, use a manual enquiry, and a store assessment can follow. The final decision belongs to the accountable officer or responsible pharmacist, and destroying stock needs an authorised witness in many cases, so this is not an ordinary item for a chemical collection. Tablets should never be flushed, and they should not be crushed or dissolved to empty a bottle. Keep them locked up and unchanged until you have advice.

Usually held as: tablets, injection.

Part-used bottles and full containers are both fine. Tell us the size and how many, and an estimate is enough for a first price.