Reclassification is over-reaction
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Pseudoephedrine can be converted into methylamphetamine in “kitchen
sink” laboratories |
Reclassifying pseudoephedrine and ephedrine as prescription medicines to try to stop them being converted to methylamphetamine is on over-reaction to a problem that does not yet exist, according to the Company Chemists’ Association.
Summing up evidence given by the CCA to a joint inquiry of the All-Party
Group on Drug Misuse and the All-Party Group on Primary Care and Public
Health, CCA chief executive Rob Darracott said: “The threat posed
by domestic methylamphetamine production must be taken seriously. However,
the MHRA’s proposed measures to restrict access to a group of medicines
that millions of law-abiding consumers use safely and effectively, is
simply a step too far.”
The CCA believes that the current P status of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine
products should be maintained. It said that an awareness campaign similar
to those implemented in the US, Australia and Canada, coupled with a
non-statutory code of practice for product sales and monitoring of sales
patterns through the supply chain, would be a balanced response to the
public health risk posed by this problem.
“Clearly the impact will be significant, since the millions of
consumers who use these products safely and effectively each year will
need to
seek a prescription to obtain them in future or use less preferred alternatives,” the
CCA said.
NAWP view The National
Association of Women Pharmacists is to
look for evidence that the MHRA complies with a requirement on public
authorities to examine the
impact of policies on men and women as separate groups. NAWP asserts that the
majority of purchasers of pseudoephedrine-containing products are women. |
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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