# What ever happened to "12 Hour Cold Relief?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714 "2011-03-07T00:04:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714/1 "2011-03-07T00:04:50Z")
I seem to recall that when Contac hit the market many years ago, it was a capsule and its advertised effectiveness was 12 hours. Soon after, many other products advertised the same 12 hour span before additional dosage was required. Now, I don’t see anything, to include Contac, on the shelves that works beyond 4 hours. Was there a problem with these medications being too strong? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714/2 "2011-03-07T00:13:48Z")
Aleve D Sinus & Cold is a 12 hour decongestant. It’s one of those drugs you have to sign for at the pharmacy, tho. Maybe it has to do with the laws that came in to effect? Robitussin has a “long lasting” formula, out on the shelves. I don’t remember if it’s 8 or 12 hour tho. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714/3 "2011-03-07T00:43:33Z")
The good cold medicines all contain pseudoephedrine, which is too useful in making meth for the government to be entirely OK with it being easily-available. That’s why you have to ask the pharmacist and sign for it, even though you don’t need a prescription for it. If it’s a cold remedy that was widely available and useful in the 1980s and disappeared at some point in the 1990s, it seems fairly reasonable to conclude it disappeared because it had pseudoephedrine and became a victim of the meth scare. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714/4 "2011-03-07T02:40:17Z")
You can still buy 12-hour [Contac](http://www.google.com/search?q=contac++12+hour+cold+medicine&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=contac++12+hour+cold+medicine&hl=en&safe=off&client=firefox-a&hs=Znl&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=ivns&source=univ&tbs=shop:1&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=XUR0TYHzBI6gsQPWsKi5Dg&ved=0CEQQrQQ&biw=1280&bih=668&bav=on.2,or.&fp=7e0c973786b8478e). I thought Contac switched from capsule to caplet after the Tylenol poisonings, but I could be wrong. The regulations against over-the-counter pseudoephedrine were enacted in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-ever-happened-to-12-hour-cold-relief/573714/5 "2011-03-07T03:48:17Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > The good cold medicines all contain pseudoephedrine, which is too useful in making meth for the government to be entirely OK with it being easily-available. That’s why you have to ask the pharmacist and sign for it, even though you don’t need a prescription for it. > > If it’s a cold remedy that was widely available and useful in the 1980s and disappeared at some point in the 1990s, it seems fairly reasonable to conclude it disappeared because it had pseudoephedrine and became a victim of the meth scare. It’s prescription only in Oregon. Sucks for a law-abiding citizen to have to go to the doctor for the sniffles.