A pharmacist has warned that taking home over-the-counter cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine could make pharmacies a target for robbers and robbers.
Pseudoephedrine is a nasal decongestant used to treat colds and flu, but it has been prescription-only since 2011 because it can be used to make the illegal drug methamphetamine.
But one thing the new government plans to do in its first 100 days is relax rules that allow the sale of cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine.
Mangafai pharmacist Lanny Wong said: Checkpoint She was worried that the change would lead to an increase in crime.
“I remember when it was available, a lot of the pharmacies I worked at were always worried about break-ins.”
Additionally, if you suspect that you have purchased pseudoephedrine to make methamphetamine (also known as P) or are selling pseudoephedrine to a distributor to make P, you must provide identification. However, it was also necessary to refuse the sale. she said.
“And for pharmacists, this is a very uncomfortable and dangerous situation.”
Wong said pharmacists had mixed opinions on whether pseudoephedrine should be returned to over-the-counter medicine.
Although it was an effective drug, from a health perspective, the symptoms it treated were relatively mild, like a cold or flu, she said.
“We need to really think about the balance of benefit and harm, and that’s how we think about it through medicine, and pharmacists are going to need to make really conscious decisions about what to do. ”
Wong said community needs dictate what the pharmacy stocks, and if the community wants it, they will stock it.
“But if it becomes dangerous and I know that a P lab is starting in my community, or that it could put my staff at risk of break-ins, hold-ups, etc., then I You have to make that difficult decision not to sell it.”
If they want it back, they need to put safety measures in place, she said.
If pharmacists stock pseudoephedrine, they could also fall victim to Lumraid, she said.
If the government chooses to reintroduce the drug into pharmacies, he said pharmacies should be entitled to the same support to prevent sheep attacks that the previous government provided to dairy farms. Ta.
“This is still in the pre-production stage of P, and if it becomes available locally, we will probably see the return of P labs in the country.”
If it becomes available, safety measures need to be put in place, she said.
“We know what the harms are, we’ve already seen it in the past, and if we’re going to bring it back, we need to take steps to prevent those harms.”
There are now discount pharmacies whose business model is to sell cheap products.
“We need to think about what measures are in place to make sure people understand that they can’t go into a big department store and buy pseudoephedrine products in bulk.”
Previously, people buying pseudoephedrine had to show identification to a pharmacist, and pharmacies kept records of sales.
But she said it was completely haphazard and there was no national database with each pharmacy having its own process.
“So if we’re going to bring it back and we already know what the harm was, we can tackle it more aggressively. Maybe we could start a national registry. You know, there are ways to record things so we have a little bit more information.” By sharing between pharmacies, we can protect our community. ”
The drug classification committee will address the question of what safeguards are needed, she said.
“So maybe they might want to consider reinstating it as a pharmacist-only drug. You know where you should talk to your pharmacist before you buy this product.”
