I’d have done exactly what you did. I was in a somewhat similar situation, and I did call. They said I could drive over to them, though, and I did. I actually felt better about that, because I knew what I was delivering was recorded, I got a receipt. I We set up a time, I called when I was on the way, and again from the parking lot.

I would dispose of them at the pharmacy. A car won’t be searched without probable cause. I would be more concerned with how they got there. Maybe there are more stashed around. Who would have access to the basement frequently?

If you had any idea how small probable cause is, you would have called the police.

It just takes one light being out on your car, and they'll pull you over. One other thing and you're gone. It's so incredibly easy for them.

Please don't risk it

No one has access to my basement without a key. No one planted it. That's not the right answer

“It just takes one light being out on your car, and they'll pull you over. One other thing and you're gone.”

I guess that’s the downside to living somewhere where cops have nothing better to do!

I'm just talking about what I see on cop shows. Not in Nashville

How did the drugs get into your car? I thought you found them in your basement.

I've never had a basement, and so I would not have that problem.

I'm glad it worked out for you to get them out of your house. Was there a name or date on the pill bottle or anything or was it not a prescription bottle? Curious about how long they could have been there; must have been a previous owner because no workman would stash their precious drugs in a stranger's house, not knowing when they could retreive them.

Lars they were never in my car. That was the point!

Oly, there was no "pill bottle".

That's why it all worked.

I'm trying to tell y'all how to get around illegal substances.

If you have illegal substances it will never work for you.

Don't drive it in your car. Don't say it's not mine. Have them come get it from you.

"He found a bottle of illicit drugs"

"There were so many relaxers..."

Some definitions are needed here:

• Illicit drugs includes any use of marijuana or hashish, cocaine, crack, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, or methamphetamine, as well as misuse of prescription psychotherapeutic drugs. Prescription psychotherapeutics include pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives; over-the-counter drugs are excluded.

"Relaxers" aren't illicit drugs. Or illegal unless they're being misused. I don't think you found a bottle of illicit drugs in your basement being you said you knew they were "relaxers" unless that bottle contained a drug defined by the CDC as illicit.

"I'm still not driving with codeine, gabapentin, hydromorphone... in my car" - these aren't illicit drugs.

CDC Definition of Illicit Drugs

I live in a pretty major city. Pharmacies around here take drugs to be disposed, as do police departments. If those places accept drugs, you would have to drive there to dispose of them. A simple explanation, if one is even needed, to a cop, would suffice, if you were pulled over for something. A cop couldn't go through your car anyway without a warrant to know you even had a bottle of drugs in your possession you were taking to pharmacy.

"If you do, and you're pulled over, they're not going to believe you when you say "they're not my drugs". That's just how cops are programmed"

Wow, a bit paranoid. The retired cop I live with isn't "programmed" to not believe someone who would be carrying an old bottle of prescription drugs covered in cobwebs that looks like it was subjected to heavy weather for multiple years 🙄

Well, it all worked out. I'm glad. In our town, the police collect rx drugs on a regular basis for safe disposal. (Do not flush!) So calling the police was a good idea. If they didn't want to come get them, they would've told you what your best course of action was.

But on a funnier note, whoever found "that perfect place" to stash their drugs probably spent hours trying to remember where they put them only never to find them again! Gee I wonder if the people who moved into Mom's old house ever found that bag of dog food she lost...

I'm pretty sure that if I called the police here about ancient medications found in the house they'd roll their eyes and tell me to bin them. Or take them to the pharmacy if I was really bothered by them. They certainly wouldn't use valuable resources to come and collect them.

I live in NY. I am pretty sure most of the police here would be more than happy to take them off my hands. 😆

Glad you were able get some help with the situation. I probably would have put them in safe storage in my house to drop off at my community's next medication collection day. We don't have regular drop boxes at pharmacies or elsewhere near where I live to get rid of stuff as needed. Maybe twice yearly there will be a collection day at the police dept or specific pharmacies where we can drop off unused/expired meds. I sometimes have some cat meds to dispose of, and when my elderly dad died with a cabinet full of meds, I saved them for the next collection day and got rid of them then. In my experience, we just put them in the drop box and walked away - no one checked what they are or quantity.

when i worked for the public defender, we once had a woman who was stopped for a minor traffic violation. she had a baggie of sugar on the front seat of her car that she used when she stopped at a drive-up for a cup of coffee. when the LEO approached her car and saw it in plain sight, she was arrested for transportation of a "look alike substance". completely innocent, totally flabbergasted that she ended up in jail that day. the "substance" was tested, found to be sugar, charges were dropped, lesson learned!

another one of our clients was on work release from jail. each time he came back to be locked up, he was searched. police dog detected something in his shoe. shoe came off, sock came off, bag of weed found. his claim..."these aren't MY SOCKS". that didn't work out so well for him. 🙄

There's nothing wrong with driving or travelling with narcotics or listed drugs if you have a prescription for them (except to some countries, which don't recognize those prescriptions as legal). Driving with them in a baggie in your purse is a different matter.

I dont think our police would have sent someone for them but they would have told me where to take them. I'd have known already, several of our pharmacies have safe boxes available to the public for unused drugs and I've seen them in every Kaiser Clinic I'm sure where I'd ever taken mother for an appointment.

Like many communities in this state, we're a little short on police personnel. Not likely there could have been someone free.

DH also takes burnables out to the family farm and he could have added them to a fire.

I can't remember the last decade I was pulled over when driving, no one has ever searched my car and the one time someone looked into my handbag it was security staff at entering a large stadium where we were attending a graduation event. I was mostly briefly embarrassed, my purse was messy.

I think we have a drug 'take back' event but only once a year or so and I probably would not have held onto them for that long. Going by the condition of the container you described, while I could be naive I doubt anyone would have mistaken them for my personal stash if for some reason noticed. I'd have put them in bag as I drove, a pocket, my purse - the bag if spider webby, not something I'd want in a pocket. We use a family owned pharmacy and know the druggist. I'm sure she'd have taken them off my hands with no suspicious looks 😊

I've driven with someone elses meds in my car plenty of times. I kept track of mothers prescriptions and more than once there was a narcotic. I filled and picked up her meds several years but the last couple of her life never opened the bag. I turned them in at the nurses station and a med tech would take them to her apartment in the right dose at precisely the time of day the doctor had ordered. I was leaving with her for an appointment one day and not wanting to rush her, asked the med tech to bring her tablet 15 minutes early. She refused. 1 PM by doctors orders meant 1 PM and not 12:45....much to my annoyance.

What would I do? I wouldn't be so paranoid!

Exactly. A fear garnered from TV shows?

Interesting thread. Reminded me that in the back of my car I still am carrying around a large bag of both prescription drugs which include gabapentin, hydrocodone & lots of expired OTC meds. They belonged to my mom, my dog, both deceased & the rest are expired or unused meds for DH & me. I purged our medicine cabs & took all expired or unused prescription & OTC drugs to nearest Safeway Pharmacy to dump in their drug collection bin. Bin was gone the day I went in & I was told the service that picks up the full bins hadn’t replaced it yet. I don’t shop Safeway but use their pharmacy for immediate need or one time fill meds that we don’t want to get from our mail order pharmacy. We haven’t had a local police sponsored drug collection event for quite a long time. As morz8 said, we’re a little short on law enforcement staff - both local police & sheriff. Worrying about being pulled over for anything & then searched is far from my imagination. It’s pretty obvious from contents of bag that even though some of the drugs are narcotics, there’s nothing illegal going on. I have left the pills in their bottles but have obliterated the names & identifying personal info on their lables just as I do with any recycle that isn’t shredded - magazine subscription lable on covers or advertising info from mail. But, just to be safe I’ll take the bag out of my car & set it on floor of garage next to car to remind me to take it next time I venture into Safeway pharmacy. I wouldn’t want to tempt someone to break into my car if they saw the bag - I’m more worried about that.

Edit to add- it's not "perscription".

Trust me Elmer, were ALL understood exactly what the word was. Could have merely been a typo, or maybe a true mistake. It's not necessary for you to correct our spelling. It adds nothing to the conversation.

What I would do, is take them to my pharmacy for disposal. I haven't been pulled over for a traffic violation ... ever ... so that thought would not cross my mind. Plus, if they're as old as you say they appeared, with the dirt and cobwebs, etc., they probably aren't viable any longer and it would be obvious to any law enforcement officer. I cannot imagine a larger city such as Nashville, which you mentioned, having officers available to come to a home and retrieve something like that.

Funny, I grew up in an Army town and renters would sometimes find something that goes "boom" when changing addresses, or cleaning vents, or whatever. Now, *that* I would call the police to retrieve! LOL

This convo reminded me of a time probably 20 years or more ago, I was picking up a pizza and found a purse in the parking lot. I suspect someone put it on top of their car and forgot and drove away. So I took it to the police station. I did not open it. The policeman asked me for my name and contact info and I refused to provide it. He didn't need it and I didn't want to give it. He asked me why. I told him I didn't look in the purse. I have no idea if there were drugs or anything else in there and didn't want it to come down on me if there were. Moreover, as I had no idea who this person was, I didn't want her to make up a missing $500 cash or something and accuse me of stealing it. Y'know...no good deed goes unpunished. So I left it with the police and left.

I did say they were illicit, but for one person to have a prescription for them, they wouldn't have been; you're correct. There were BAGS of codeine and one other one I couldn't see enough markings on to decipher what they were. There were multiple other types loose in the bottle. For them to be packaged the way they were, it was obvious they were supposed to be sold for profit, which is illicit. Exercising a great deal of caution for what could be a felony sentence, should one be caught in possession of them, isn't paranoid. I just know, police officers have heard it all and won't believe you. They are your pants, doesn't matter if your sister/friend/mother borrowed the car because you are the one in control of the vehicle, etc. I don't think I've ever seen anyone get away with any excuse? I have seen people own up that it was obvious the other person was the one who had the drugs, and yep, they took them away instead of the truly guilty person. Law enforcement errs on the side of guilty, letting the courts sieve out who isn't. After you've been locked up, paid the bail, and hired an attorney.

floral, you probably could get drugs over the counter that we can get locked up for. Truly. I could see things going differently in another country.

@rob333 (zone 7b), I think you did the right thing. Better safe than sorry.

Hospice workers I have known take care to make sure drugs don't fall into the wrong hands, including family members. At the time of passing of a patient they suggest—and watch—as the drugs are placed on something very absorbent like a disposable diaper and fully saturated and melted with water. Since drugs should not be flushed down a drain, this might be a good way to dispose of them.

" Trust me Elmer, were ALL understood exactly what the word was. "

Of course.

KW, you're safe, nothing to worry about. Unless you drive to Nashville, apparently the cops there watch TV.

DH watches those shows and they are real car stops done by real officers and even though it is all on TV they take license with law all the time. Just try and not allow them to search your car.

When you are talking sellable amounts of drugs many packaged for selling and you were to get stopped you would certainly have a problem. The simplest solution is call the police and let them decide what they want to do and it seems Robb did just that. If they want to check out where they were found they could or just have you bring them in so you could have a record,

People who rob houses will steal drugs and then repackage them to sell. That is how you could have such a collection. How it got into the basement is the real puzzler.

patriciae

So break up the pills a bit. Move them into a less suspicious looking container. Or do exactly what Rob did. Whatever.

Rob, I imagine you expected a variety of answers or you wouldn't have asked the question. One person's caution is another person's paranoia. All that matters is that that you got rid of the stuff in a way that made you comfortable. Doesn't matter if I think you were excessively cautious. But since you asked, now you know how I feel.

You did the right thing for you, rob. That's what matters.

That's not what I'd have done, personally. I'd have just taken them over to a police station. No, I wouldn't worry that there was some big beacon on my car encouraging police to stop me on that one trip and arrest me. I drive all the time and have only been stopped twice in 50 years. And those were for speeding,

What is surpring me here is the number of people who would not want to know what was the legal thing to do with this collection. It is not mom's left overs or one ones you never gave the cat (I have some of those) or did not take after the wisdom tooth was taken out. It a stash of illicit in some way drugs found by a service man who turned them over to you. It is not a secret because he could tell anyone. The police are there to help.

Yeah, so many crazy things could happen…

"floral, you probably could get drugs over the counter that we can get locked up for."

I haven't researched this but I doubt that very much indeed. OTC drug rules are very tight here.

Skipping down to comment, so I haven't read all the replies yet, but I'm struck by the vagueness in the OP description of what was found. Only by reading further did I learn more details about the quantity and type - and possible age of the contraband. IOW, how it appeared to be contraband in the first place.

Also wondering how long you've lived in this home and was it possible a former resident or visitor hid them - also unclear about were they actually hidden, and how?

I'm surprised floral. Seems like my ex said when he lived in Germany, they could get what they needed with less hassle. My mistake ;) I'm sure I am mis-remembering.

I don't live in Germany. And regulations change over time anyway. I'm sure things were laxer everywhere in the past.

carol, There is what looked to be graffiti in my basement, and I THINK, the house was used by bad characters sometime in the past. That's my best guess. Nobody ever goes in my basement. It's not one of those where you can easily go through an interior door to access it. You have to go on the back porch, then down some stairs, and use a key to get in. It's always locked. It's just my "workshop". The duct work is down there. The hot water heater is down there. My wood working tools are down there. I think I might go down there once every other month. Unless I am germinating seeds. You would really have to go out of your way, and break a window, or use the one and only key I have inside the house. I just think it's leftover from many years ago when the bad people were hanging out in my basement. Long gone now

The drugs were found by the HVAC people? They weren't IN your furnace?

I ask because when we replaced HVAC in our starter home many years ago we found paper money tucked into seams in the ductwork. There were a few current twenties and one old, oversized twenty dollar bill.

We weren't all that surprised. Older neighbors had told us that the original owner (not our seller) was paranoid. She'd had electric switches in the house disassembled, looking for listening devices. She'd taken a hammer to the tile in one bathroom -- same reason. There was a 3 X 5, one-inch-deep recess in some paneling that we didn't even notice for years; we never did figure out its purpose.

Wow Chi that sounds crazy!

He found it up in the rafters. Nothing in the ductwork. Come to think of it, I might want to check around some more down there because there are a lot of spaces you could hide things. Hmmm

Sensible Robb.

Rob, how long have you lived in your house? And when was it built? Just wondering about how long ago the pills could’ve been stashed & how many owners house had before you. chisue - your old house has an interesting history too! Makes me think ”if these walls could talk…”

Rob, up in the rafters is where my aunt and uncle stowed the sterling silverware.

In my first townhouse, behind the 1956 metal kitchen cabinets, I found a wonderful bottle opener, and a (mismatched) fork and spoon. We still have the bottle opener, it’s the best! But no drugs.

I don know anything about those specific drugs, but I’d be inclined to researc when they came on the market. That might give you an idea of how recently they could have been hidden, if any of them are recent patents

This reminded me of a time a few years ago. I was driving up with a friend to help with horses that were part of a summer program about 175 miles away. We would be spending a few nights up there. The back seat of my truck was full of our sleeping bags and other belongings. On our way we got a call asking us to stop at one of the ranches and pick up some meds because a horse had gotten ill up there. We were told where they would be. So we get there and there is a huge contractor's bucket loaded to the top, no lid, with various sized baggies filled with premeasure doses of various drugs. White powder, psyllium, syringes and who knows what else. LOL We couldn't fit it in the cab so it had to go in the bed of the truck. I told my friend no way was I exceeding the speed limit that trip. We had to stop to eat and we never took our eyes off the truck.

These stories have me thinking about stashing some money in my walls. Maybe with a note, plant seeds, and a bottle of aspirin, a couple of bandaids and a music CD. Add an x-ray as well. I have a bit of foreign currency. Maybe a couple of tix to some Mel Gibson movies, a Tesla coupon, and a front page clipping.

A few years ago while cleaning some rooms, I came upon a bunch of expired pills, various medications. There were a lot of pills and capsules. I put them into a zip bag, crushed them, added salt, hot chilies and something like motor oil and water, Made a pretty mess. Then I put them into another bag and tossed them in the trash. Done.

One aquaintance tosses her empty orange plastic pharmacy Rx bottles into the trash without removing or blacking out her name etc. on the label.

I usually remove the label, tear it into 1000 pieces and distribute them in the trash bins no fewer than 8 countries.

Reminds me of the story Mom told me, that in the house she grew up in, her Dad walled a prototype Ives toy in the attic. They are very collectible. He worked for the company and this toy never made it into production as the company went bankrupt during the depression. I have no idea what ever happened, but many years ago Mom and I drove by and the house looked exactly the same as when she grew up, so most likely it's still there. But what do I do? Go to the owners and say I'll split the cost of what we find if you let me rip out your wall?

Where I live, you take them to the police station put them in the kiosk provided, no questions asked.

debra

"He found a bottle of illicit drugs"

"There were BAGS of codeine and one other one I couldn't see enough markings on to decipher what they were. There were multiple other types loose in the bottle."

I'm not at all clear exactly what was found. One bottle or lots of bags? My response would be different if it was a number of bags.

Do you get pulled over often? I don't know the statistics of being pulled over in general, plus the rare event of carrying the drugs, but I think I'd just roll the dice.

Your story reminds me of when I first moved to NYC and was working freelance doing secretarial stuff for a guy who had quite a lifestyle. One time he was late paying off his bookie and had to get the guy money right away. My boss gave me a brown paper bag filled with $20,000 cash and instructions to take a cab to an address across town. But when I got down to the street, I didn't see any cabs, so I just took the subway with that brown paper bag. I figured the bag didn't look like anything interesting and I was just wearing jeans and a tee shirt, not looking like big bucks. Called my boss after the delivery and he was shocked that I made it so fast. He almost had a heart attack when he found out that I had taken the subway. But I rolled the dice, plus got to pocket the cab fare :-)

This made me recall when I was in college and got pulled over in a speed trap on a side road (passing driver tried to warn me, but I didn't understand until it was too late). When the cop asked for my registration and I opened the glove box, he saw film containers and asked me to show him what was in them. I was a photography student and told him so, then showed that they did indeed contain film rolls, not illicit drugs 😏

And yeah - there seems to be a certain degree of overthinking going on in some cases here.

Still curious how long rob & fam have been @ that home & if the stash was from previous residents or not...?