Can you share your prescription drugs?

You know firsthand exactly how helpful prescription drugs can be. Maybe you take them for anxiety or ADHD. Maybe you had surgery and so you were given painkillers. They’ve certainly helped you get through challenging times and you are grateful for the effects that they provide. Modern medicine can do quite a lot to benefit society, and you have experienced that reality in your own life.

Say that someone that you know asks if they can have some of your medication. Maybe the remainder of your prescription is “leftover” at this point, as you have already recovered and simply never bothered to throw away the pills. Knowing how helpful they can be, you would probably be inclined to give them to someone that you cared about, hoping they could experience the effects that benefitted your recovery.

This is a violation of drug laws

For better and for worse, you can never lawfully share prescription medication. It is always a violation of drug laws to share prescription medication because the only person who is lawfully permitted to use the medication is the person for whom the medication was prescribed. If you sell the pills to someone else or even give those pills to them without charging them anything, you will be in violation of drug distribution laws. The other person could also face legal charges for drug possession.

The reason why sharing medication is unlawful is that prescription medications are classified as controlled substances. Controlled substances are strictly regulated and are – in many ways – treated like illicit drugs are when they are possessed, sold, manufactured, etc. without a valid prescription.

Of course, many people accidentally make a mistake in this regard as they try to help a friend or family member. If something like this happens to you, be sure to learn about your legal options so that you can make informed choices when defending against the charges you may be faced with.