Prescription needed for over-the-counter flu medicine

People who are accustomed to buying everyday over-the-counter drugs such as Comtrex, Sudafed, or Tylenol will now require a prescription from a doctor to make these purchases. According to former Health Minister Hamza Rafeeq, this would be the effect of amendments to the Food and Drug Act, which were passed yesterday in the House of Representatives. Piloting the measure in the House of Representatives was Health Minister John Rahael, who explained that it was designed to control “the import, export, use and diversion” of precursor chemicals used in the production of illicit drugs and psychotrophic substances. “The Food and Drug Act has been amended by including under Part 2 of the Third Schedule a number of precursors which are classified as drugs but which would now be controlled under the Act,” the Minister indicated, without further elaboration.

It was Rafeeq, a doctor who owns a pharmacy, who drew attention to the implications of Government’s proposals. It would mean that people will have to go to private doctors before they could buy virtually all cold medications, he said. “If someone has a little sneezing, or cough and you have to get any one of these medications — Comtrex, Tyrenol Cold, Sudafed — you must first go to the doctor, pay your fees and then go to the pharmacy to buy two Comtrex... If people cannot afford to go to private doctors then they have to flock the health centres to get a prescription to buy ordinary medication,” he said. “The net result would be hardship for the common man,” he lamented. Many common cold medications contain pseudoephedrine, a decongestant ingredient, which now falls under the Third Schedule of the Food and Drugs Regulations. “So you have to go to the doctor for Vicks 44?” Opposition Chief Whip, Ganga Singa asked incredulously.

Rafeeq said Tylenol Cold contained 30 mg of pseudoephedrine; Panadol multi-symptoms 50 mg of pseudoephedrine; Comtrex 30 mg; and Sudafed contained a little over 30 mg. He said it would have been better if  the bill had stated that beyond a certain dosage (of these drugs) one required a prescription. “But it doesn’t say that,” he observed. Therefore, any pharmacist would be guilty of an offence if he sells any of these medications without a prescription, he stated. Noting that this would put additional work on pharmacists and distributors (who would have to keep prescription records), Rafeeq surmised that it would lead to an increase in the price of drugs. Rafeeq said according to the Food and Drug Regulations: “No person shall sell a Third Schedule drug unless he has received a prescription for it and the prescription shall show the name and address of the person for whom the drug may be dispensed, the name and quality of the drug specified, the directions for use, date of the prescription and the signature of the practitioner who issued the prescription.”

This regulation also requires that a record of every Third Schedule drug be retained by the dispenser for at least two years. Rafeeq said it was ironic that while Government was moving aggressively to deal with precursor drugs, it stood accused of exporting cocaine — “the real thing, not a precursor” — in a diplomatic pouch of all things. The amendment in the Food and Drug Act accompanied amendments to the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Act. Focusing on the latter bill, Rafeeq called on Government to regulate the sale of gramaxone, which is currently sold over the counter. He said while anyone in Trinidad and Tobago could walk into any agricultural or plant shop and buy it, gramaxone was banned altogether in many European countries. In other countries its sale was heavily regulated, he said. He suggested that only people with a farmer’s licence should be allowed to buy this substance.