Call 6 Investigation: Expired Drugs At Discount Stores

INDIANAPOLIS -- Everyone loves a bargain, but when it comes to certain discount stores, buying over-the-counter drugs there could put your health at risk.

Call 6 for Help recently found that many of the drugs sold at three local discount stores were past the expiration dates listed on the packages. The sale of expired drugs that have dosage limitations is illegal, and consumption of expired drugs, experts say, could be ineffective or even harmful.

With a hidden camera recording, Call 6 bought more than 60 packages of expired drugs at the three stores. At the 99 Cents Plus store at 2802 Lafayette Road, Call 6 found several expired items, including cold-and-flu pills and antacid tablets that expired in 2003, and pain relievers that expired in 2004.

Also purchased at that store was a pediatric electrolyte supplement that expired in July 2005. That item worried Dr. Toni Eash, a clinical pharmacist at St. Vincent Hospital.

"The water can actually evaporate, thereby making the solution more concentrated, which could also be harmful to the child," Eash said.

At a 99 Cents Plus store at 38th Street and Post Road, Call 6 found calcium supplements that expired in 2000, teething gel that expired in January 2005 and nasal spray that expired in October 2003.

Call 6 also found outdated pain relievers and antacid at the One Dollar Superstore on the city's south side.

Eash said it is a bad idea to use expired drugs.

"Many times, if a patient takes a medication after its expiration, it can certainly not be as effective," Eash told Call 6's Rafael Sanchez.

Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit the sale of expired over-the-counter products that have dosage limitations. However, the FDA doesn't enforce the law, and in Indiana, no state or county health agency checks for expiration dates.

Stores are left to police themselves. Consumer advocate Beth McConnell said that is not good enough.

"We really need to strengthen the laws at the state and federal level to better protect patients and consumers," McConnell said.

State and federal officials said they don’t have the resources to check the dates on packages at stores.

Expired medicine wasn't the only problem at the 99 Cents Plus store on Lafayette Road. Call 6 was able to buy pseudoephedrine there with no limitation and without signing a log or showing identification -- a violation of state law.

Pseudoephedrine and ephedrine are main ingredients in methamphetamine. Because of this, Indiana law restricts the over-the-counter sale of medications with pseudoephedrine and ephedrine.

Steve King, who leads the state's Meth Free Coalition, said the restriction-free purchases of pseudoephedrine at the 99 Cents Plus store shouldn't have happened.

"Part of the problem we do have is identifying every retail outlet that is selling products that contain ephedrine," King said.

King said the store's management will be shown how to correctly sell the restricted medicine.