Are You Legally Allowed to Share Prescription Drugs with Someone Else?

If you are living with someone, and you have a drug prescription sitting in the bathroom cabinet, you might wonder whether it is legally okay for that person to ingest one of your pills if you feel they have a legitimate medical reason. You may not be giving your housemate one of your pills with the idea of them misusing it. You might also feel that nothing bad is going to happen if you do it just this one time. 

This kind of situation is how some commonly abused prescription drugs start to get into the hands of individuals who have no business taking them, though. Even if that doesn’t become a problem, there is still the legality issue to think of. 

In this article, we’ll answer the question of whether it’s legal to share some of your prescription drugs with someone else. 

What Exactly Are Prescription Drugs?

First, let’s make sure you understand what we mean when we talk about prescription drugs. Prescription drugs can be any of dozens of medications that you are not able to buy on a store shelf or over the counter. In other words, you need a valid prescription from a medical doctor to purchase a prescription drug. 

These drugs are typically kept in pharmacies behind the counter. You can’t get at them without a doctor’s prescription, and sometimes, the drugs are considered so dangerous that they are kept in a safe behind the pharmacy counter. Drugs that have a high chance of abuse are usually kept in a locked safe or somewhere else where they can be very carefully monitored.  

Is Sharing Prescription Drugs Legal?

The short answer to the question of whether it’s legal to give your prescription drugs to someone else is no. It’s illegal for you to give your prescription drugs to anyone else, and it’s illegal for them to ingest those substances as well. 

You may feel like it’s harmless if you do this occasionally. For instance, maybe your spouse is complaining of having a severe toothache, and they can’t get a dentist to see them for a few days. Perhaps you have some Oxydocone leftover from a surgery you had a few months ago, and you decide to give them one to ease their discomfort. 

That might seem relatively harmless, but it’s still illegal. Even if they don’t give you any money for the drugs, just the act of giving them to someone other than yourself puts you on the wrong side of the law.

Should You Ever Make an Exception?

The police, doctors, and pharmacists all know that situations like the one we described above can happen. In reality, family members giving each other prescription drugs probably occurs fairly often. 

You might do it and hope that no harm will come from it, and, in most instances, you’ll be right. That doesn’t mean you should not be aware of the illegality, though. If the police catch you doing this, you can be subject to fines or arrest.