If you need to dispose of it, another way is to put it with coffee grounds in the trash. I was also told it you have a cat, you can put it in with cat litter. Told sometimes it is shipped to third world countries. Not sure how that goes.

Check out the DEA website. There's a program called National Take-Back Initiative.

Could you not donate it to a medical charity that give's people medical aid

It is not legal for patients to simply pass them to someone else, but if there is a legal program in place to ship them back, then perhaps they can be given to someone else by the agency which is receiving them back (and verifying that what they are receiving is indeed what the labeled bottle says that it is).

I always dispose of mine with dirty cat litter. I've read that this prevents anyone from being able to take the pills. Before anyone knew better, we flushed the pills. Apparently the drugs can get into the sewer systems.

Personally, I don't feel comfortable about mailing it back to the pharmacy or the drug companies. I guess I'm just too suspicious of their billion dollar corporation that continues to increase our med prices with no concern for those that need the medicine.

*Stepping off my soapbox now*