Is expired medication safe?

DEAR DR. GOTT: With our overall belt-tightening in this down economy and no Social Security increase going on two years now, I have a question many of your readers probably face. Can taking expired medications make you sick or even poison you?

To be more exact, I’m referring to hard-coated prescriptions, not the soft capsule forms that have been stored as directed in a cool, dry place and for which I still have the medical problem they were originally prescribed. I’m talking maybe one or two years past expiration and mostly prescribed for pain relief.
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