I think someone is about to get a letter from Sudafed®’s lawyers.
I’m one of those unfortunate people for who finds Phenylephrine to be absolutely and completely useless for clearing their congestion. Honestly, I might as well take Tic-Tacs for my colds, as at least that way I’ll have minty fresh breath to sneeze everywhere.
Fortunately, I can still get “Regular” Sudafed and Coldral from the chemist, provided I show them my driver’s licence. They run a check through the computer system to make sure I haven’t brought lots of it recently, then I get a sort of “on the spot prescription” for it and can thus purchase the medicine I need to banish my symptoms.
All I can say is that if a chemist decided one day that I didn’t need a single box of Sudafed (or the Generic brand with the same active ingredient), you can bet I’d never go there again.
There are lots of things that have “no legitimate use” that are- and should remain- perfectly legal for anyone who wants them. A car that can drive at 250km/h has no practical use in most places, yet it is not up to a car salesman to say “Sorry, I’m not selling you this particular car as no-one in this country has a legitimate reason to drive at 250km/h, and you might use the car as a getaway vehicle too.”
There are plenty of ways to divert someone who wants The Full Strength Stuff to a lesser strength version with the same active ingredient. So, if someone wants Sudafed 24 Hour (not available here, but I imagine it’s got quite a bit of kick and may be more medicine than is strictly necessary) and they’ve really only got a nasty cold, surely you could recommend the Regular Strength Stuff to them, perhaps with a friendly warning that the Full Strength Stuff will keep them awake for hours or could show up negatively on a police/workplace random drug test or impair their ability to drive a Motor Vehicle or something that will make them think they’re choosing the Regular Stuff for the “right” reasons- and not because the chemist (or chemist’s assistant) doesn’t think anyone should have access to a particular medicine for whatever reason.
You have obviously never had a sinus headache.
Me too. I’ve never thought of trying 24 Hour Sudafed, but now I’m kind of thinking I should give it a shot the next time I have horrible congestion, if it’s really that strong.
Quite frankly, I think you deserved to have your ass reamed by the DM. You are a pharmacy technician, not a clinician. And even if you were a clinician, you are not their (your customer’s) prescriber. All I ever buy is 120’s. Every single time I walk into a pharmacy the same thing happens—I look the knuckle-dragging tech straight in the eye and say “I need some pseudo—120 milligrams.” They shuffle back to the cabinet and come back with 30 milligram tablets. I hang my head and weep. “No, I said 120 milligrams,” I wearily inform them. “Oh,” they say, and shuffle back to the cabinet. And I’ve been known to buy 240’s as well. If you pulled that shit on me, I’d look your ass up in the state database (that’s the CA one) and scream bloody murder to the board. Your implication that only smurfs buy 240’s is preposterous. Besides, don’t you know how to spot three tweekers in a supermarket? They’ve got the cart upside down and they’re trying to fix the wheel.
The point is that there are laws regarding the distribution of pseudophedrine, and the OP believes that he/she is following the law while being asked to skirt or even ignore the law by the employer. A pharmacy tech may not be trained to make a clinical diagnosis, but he/she can recognize illicit purchasing patterns. That’s the whole point of the legislation.
The OP asks… “Missouri’s board of pharmacy has some clause somewhere on the internet that people can be refused PSE if the person selling it believes it will be used for illicit purposes. Where can I find such information about my state?”
The answer is The Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy. Call or write them and ask for clarification.
That was the consensus among the pharmacists I work under, as well. I believe one of them is contacting the ASBoP this week, but I was hoping that someone would happen to have some online searchable thing to go off of. Thanks for the help, those of you who did.
Personally, I’d rather see 1,000,000 packages sold to people who were planning on using it for illicit purposes than to see one legitimate purchase denied.
It sounds like it is your mission to stop PSE purchases for unsavory uses. It doesn’t sound like your employers agree with this. I’m not sure that citing things is your best solution to this dilemma.
Some of the reasons the OP gave for turning people away seem overly strict, and aren’t just following the point of the law: “Turning out-of-towners away”, “Turning people away who are buying it for someone else”, “Turning people away when they have a health condition that precludes them using PSE”. (On that last one, maybe her doctor told her it was OK. Or maybe she was really buying it for her husband, and had previously been turned away for that…)
I’m one of those lucky people who don’t have allergies - knock on wood - and can’t think if I’ve ever used Sudafed or not. Based on what I understand, the medication is fast-acting, stops mucus production and dilates airways in the lungs; can you understand how ridiculously useful this can be to someone who is suffering from a bad cold or allergies? I don’t know how much Sudafed is needed to make meth. Does anyone know?
This isn’t Communist Russia or North Korea - this is the United States of America and you have no business obstructing people’s right to legally acquire **federally approved ** medication. If you think you know more, why don’t you join the FDA advisory panel? All you need is a doctorate.
- Honesty
I need Sudafed twice a year, for extended periods. Spring & Fall allergy seasons. I’ve got a prescription antihistamine. I’ve got a saline nasal rinse kit. I’ve got an inhaler. But sometimes, even after using those things, I still need my sinuses cleared.
If there’s anything this thread has brought me, it’s the knowledge that there’s more available than just asking for pseudoephedrine at the counter. I’m going straight for the 24-hour kind next time. Not because I’m a meth-head. Not because I’m trying to make a point to the OP. No, it’s because it sounds like something I could really use.
Thanks!
I love 24 hour sudafed, but can’t always find it. 12 hour is also very nice. When I’m congested, I find the steady dose keeps me more comfortably clear, where with the 4-6 hour stuff I feel like it takes an hour or so to start clearing things, then two hours later it’s wearing off. With 12 and 24, it ramps up and then…keeps working. It is so much more comfortable.
And phenylephrine is one hundred percent useless.
That said, I sympathize with the OP’s frustration. Supposedly all these goofy hoops we have to jump through to get a real decongestant is limiting the amount of pseudoephedrine that’s getting turned into meth–if pharmacies aren’t going to actually take any steps to do that, why am I bothering to do the song and dance?
I think that most of us don’t necessarily have a problem with pharmacies taking steps to limit access. The problem is with the OP’s seemingly arbitrary list of rules, and his belief that no one who isn’t a meth head should ever need to buy the stuff. I’d be pissed, legitimately I feel, if I chose to go to a pharmacy near work on my way home and was denied because I didn’t live in that town.
I’m sorry dude, but you’re flat out wrong here and by saying this you’re making yourself look like an ass. I’ve been on your side of the counter for 4 years, so I do feel for you. But give it up. I tried to play Meth Police and pick and judge every potential buyer for things but the fact of the matter is it’s not controlled and it’s not your job.
You don’t have to set up fictitious parameters within which only criminals and junkies operate. You just need to follow the laws you’re required to follow and do due diligence, notifying the appropriate authorities when you think it’s necessary.
No matter what your RPhs say or how much they agree with you, all pharmacies hate junkies. It’s one thing if you may lose your license by dispensing something you think can be used inappropriately, but until PSE becomes scheduled don’t go crazy thinking it’s your responsibility to keep the streets clean.
IME.
As people are pointing out, this is a ridiculous statement. I use 24-hour Sudafed and Claritin-D all the time. When I swim - and I swim a lot - I often get sinusitis from the chlorine. I can either be a miserable mess for the rest of the day, or take a pill (along with the usual neti pot / etcetera defenses) and be much clearer. And a 12-hour pill seems to wear off right before bedtime and makes it tough to get a good night’s sleep.
I would be quite pissed off if someone decided to play amateur judge and jury with my legitimate medicinal needs.
The role you are taking on is IMHO a burden that you don’t have to carry and can do you no good.
Also I have never used 24 hr Sudafed, I didn’t know it even existed, but I know years ago I used Actifed (Do they still make this?) and it was the only thing that worked. Perhaps the 24 Sudafed really works for some people.
It just dawned on me, I’m not just a meth dealer, I’m a drug lord.
Lets look at the math:
24 hr sudafed comes in only a 10 pack size. 10 x 240 mg = 2400 mg.
I buy regular generic sudafed in the 96 count size. 96 x 30 mg = 2880 mg.
Not only am I buying 20 percent more but I’m getting it at a reduced cost. The last time I bought it was from a grocery store and they had a special on the 48 count house brand so I bought 2 of them cheaper than the 96 count.
Well, I have the opposite problem; phenylephrine works for purposes of clearing my sinuses, but it also makes me violently ill, as in the last time I took it, it jacked up my pulse and blood pressure 30 points each and made me so dizzy I had to go home from work and lie down until it wore off. Silly me; I hadn’t bought Sudafed in so long that I hadn’t realized they’d changed the formulation - I just grabbed the familiar-looking box off the shelf.
When I realized what had happened and went to ask the pharmacist for the old formulation, she told me that roughly 30% of people have an adverse reaction to phenylephrine, which was why the makers of Sudafed had stopped using the stuff in the first place. Personally, I’d call that a fabulous clinical indication for using something else. And I’d be REALLY pissed at you if, over my protestations, you insisted that I should take something that I know from personal experience makes me violently ill instead of taking a legal substance, at the pharmaceutically recommended dose, that I know a) works, and b) doesn’t make me violently ill.
I know this is going to come across as an abortion-rights hijack and I swear it’s not … but the OP reminds me of those right-wing pharmacists who refuse to dispense Plan B to women who come in asking for it.
Mr. Horseshoe occasionally suffers from really serious allergy-related sinus problems, and you can be assured, I know precisely which Sudafed to bring home from the drugstore. Like the other posters have said, that phenyl-whatsit does jack shit, while the correctly colored box brings him sweet relief.
ChaoticBear, I understand that you started this thread looking for factual info about state drug laws … and you got that. You got some links, you got a suggestion to contact your state’s board. So I hope that mollifies you a little. The rest of us - the ones you think aren’t helping you - are simply posting to express how apalled we are at your original line of thinking.
Perhaps you are in the wrong line of work.
If you would like to tell people what medications they should or shouldn’t be taking, you might consider going back to med school and becoming a doctor - you may then write prescriptions, or tell people they shouldn’t be using Sudafed.
If you would like to tell people how to live their lives and are interested in interfering with the details of how people run their errands or care for their sick loved ones, you might consider becoming a politician - you may then re-write the laws in as Draconian a manner as you see fit, at least until your constituency kicks you out.
If you would like to go after the meth makers and crack heads of the world, you might consider becoming a cop - you may then arrest drug dealers to your heart’s content.
But a pharmacist, pharm tech, or pharm manager does not do any of those things. So if you would like to do those things (and you used the word “quest” in your OP, so I’m guessing this is really near and dear to you) then you might consider a career change.