OTC Pain Meds

Not sure if this has been covered on the forum but --- I attempted to pick up some pain meds at Asda.  One for headache the other for sinus congestion and since there was such a good sale (and only 16 pills per pack) I decided to buy two sets.  Well, low and behold the cashier said I had to choose between which two I wanted because apparently I could only buy 32?  Does anyone recall which rule this is and when they started this?  I know it's supposed to prevent suicides or accidental overdoses.  - Thanks

http://www.hants.gov.uk/regulatory/tradingstandards/medicines.html (ftp://http://www.hants.gov.uk/regulatory/tradingstandards/medicines.html)

What are the main legal requirements?
This legislation came into force on 16 September 1998. It limits the maximum pack size of solid doses of paracetamol and aspirin for general sale to 16 tablets or capsules. It also limits the maximum pack size of solid doses of paracetamol and aspirin to 32 tablets or capsules in pharmacies. The sale or supply of more than 100 aspirin or paracetamol tablets or capsules at one time requires a doctor's prescription.

Can more than one pack be sold?
The sale of more than one pack is not illegal, but where it resulted in an overdose the adverse publicity would of course be serious for the vendor. These measures will not stop anyone from going from shop to shop to buy as many packets as they wish. However, since the purpose of these changes is to reduce the quantities of these products stored in the home, it would be sensible to limit general sale of paracetamol or aspirin to one pack at a time. Some retailers have introduced a Code of Practice or have programmed their tills to prevent multiple sales.

So looks like they COULD sell up to 100 but in an effort to limit their liability most places will only sell because that's the maximum packet size.

You can always go to Boots or to the Pharmacy in ASDA and purchase a larger pack from behind the counter (up to 100 pills I believe).

I think it's to do with licencing laws and what licencing different types of shops have for selling medicines (note that in the UK, OTC refers to medicines that are kept behind a pharmacy counter and that you have to ask for, not medicines that are kept on the shelves in a supermarket).

Supermarkets/regular shops can only sell 2 packets of pain relief tablets (32 tablets in total) to a customer, so if you brought up 16 aspirin, 16 paracetamol and 16 ibuprofen to the till, you would only be allowed to purchase two of the three packets.

Pharmacies, on the other hand, are able to sell more from behind the pharmacy counter. I work in the pharmacy department of Boots and if you pay for painkillers at the main checkouts, you can only purchase 2 packets (32 tablets in total), but if you go to the pharmacy counter, you could potentially buy 32 paracetamol, plus 100 ibuprofen, plus (I think) up to 100 aspirin. However, the amount of tablets you can buy from the pharmacy counter is determined by the pharmacist on duty, so they may decide they are not comfortable with selling that many tablets to one customer. It is common for customers to purchase 32 paracetamol plus 100 ibuprofen from us though. Occasionally, a pharmacist may allow someone to buy 64 paracetamol, but this is usually only if there is a medical reason for needing to buy more than one packet - we have to ask who it is for, why they need the tablets and then check with the pharmacist to see if we are allowed to sell them.

Just a note: you can no longer buy more than 32 tablets containing codeine (co-codamol, Syndol, Migraleve, Nurofen Plus, Paramol etc.) as regulations have been tightened for codeine sales recently and more than 32 tablets is now prescription-only.

Thanks so much ladies ~

Thanks for clarifying that KSand24!  I'll keep that in mind for future reference.   

I never understood this law. Like it would really stop anyone from trying to commit suicide? I mean, wouldn't you just go to another shop to get more?

I agree if you are determined you are determined, but I guess the idea is that a lot of people do spur of the moment things.

Although, if you were doing spur of the moment you would surely chose another method that does not involve tromping out to the shops. 

I never understood this law. Like it would really stop anyone from trying to commit suicide? I mean, wouldn't you just go to another shop to get more?

It does in fact work very well
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/po/news/2004-05/nov/01.shtml

Part of it is, if you go to the shops to get some painkillers and you have to go to lots of shops or make up a reason as to why you want so many packets, it gives you more time to think and potentially change your mind.

If you're really determined then you will commit it by any other method, although other methods can be quite...messy and/or complicated. Lots of methods involve other people (bystanders etc) and lots of people are uncomfortable with putting this burden on others.

Suicide prevention is very close to my heart, so the occasional inconvenience of limiting the amount people can buy is worth it if just a few lives are saved.