# Klonopin Shelf Life



## orbit55 (Apr 23, 2008)

Does old Klonopin go bad? I don't have the money for my refill but I have an old bottle from 7/08. I'm assuming it says use by 7/09 because there is a chance the pills could be exposed to the elements and start to break down into powder?


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## Noca (Jun 24, 2005)

If stored properly, the average shelf life for pharmaceuticals is 2-3 years before they lose 50% or greater of their potency.


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## Recipe For Disaster (Jun 8, 2010)

they last for decades.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Expiration dates are largely arbitrary and basically just pulled out of the air.

I remember reading a discussion of this on a pharmacy forum and one pharmacist said how when he was in Vietnam they were using morphine that was from the Korean war and had an expiration date 15 years prior. It still worked.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to use a benzo dispensed two years ago in that situation, though that's just me. We don't even know what date the manufacturer put on the factory bottle. For all we know the company that made them could have dated it for use before March 2011 (quite possible as 3 years after manufacture is a common time). Then the pharmacy took them out of the factory bottle and put them in their own bottle and put their arbitrary 1 year date upon it.


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## Ash09 (Apr 27, 2009)

Meds last a very long time, morphine vials over 100 years old have been found to have pretty much their original potency.


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## Medline (Sep 23, 2008)

Just very few meds (eg. tetracyclines) get bad / toxic when they are old.


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## Under17 (May 4, 2010)

Damn, I just threw away some tylenol because the expiration date was 2006.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

Under17 said:


> Damn, I just threw away some tylenol because the expiration date was 2006.


Given that it's 4 years and it's a very cheap OTC drug I'd prefer to not take it either.

My standards differ when we're talking about the "good" stuff.


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