# Does Lorazepam go bad?



## prufessional (Mar 24, 2011)

It's been one year since my last refill and I have about 10 left (out of 30 yay me!).

Do these go bad or have less of an affect? Im starting to think they do as the last one i took i bit in half (.5mg) (yeah that's sometimes enough to take the edge off) and it didnt feel right to me..


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## Bacon (Jul 4, 2010)

Your build tollerance which happens fast with benzos. Ativan was very weak to begin with in my opinion and provided maybe 1/10th the relief as xanax.


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

Pharmaceuticals have an average of 2-3 years. Benzos also risk being made inactive if they are exposed to heat or water/vapor.


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## pixel2010 (May 13, 2011)

Doesn't it have a use by date on it?


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

pixel2010 said:


> Doesn't it have a use by date on it?


It's pretty much universal that a pharmacy will slap on a use by date of 1 year from when the drug was dispensed. This is an arbitrary date they just picked out of the air as they felt obligated to provide some date.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to use 1-year-old benzos. Yes, drugs get less potent with time, but exactly how fast a drug degrades is largely a mystery. I remember there was some study where many drugs were still fine 15 years later. While I don't suggest storing drugs for decades to find out, a year isn't any big deal.

I'm guessing they err on the conservative side assuming there are plenty of folks who foolishly think a bathroom medicine cabinet (as the name implies) is actually a proper place to store meds. It's not. Drugs should be stored in a dry, dark, room temp area -- not in the bathroom that turns into a tropical rain forest when you shower.


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