BMJ  2007;334:1190-1192 (9 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39223.422824.AD

Feature

Regulation of decongestants

Cold turkey

London

Highly popular cold remedies could be banned from sale because of their link to a dangerous drug epidemic that has yet to surface in the UK. Rebecca Coombes asks whether the authorities are over-reacting

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

UK drug regulators are favouring making products containing the nasal decongestants pseudoephedrine and ephedrine available on prescription only to try to limit their use in the illicit manufacture of the class A drug methylamphetamine, also known as methamphetamine or crystal meth.

A consultation by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency could result in the UK having the toughest restrictions on pseudoephedrine in the world as early as this Christmas.¹ Critics, including general practitioner representatives and an eminent pharmacologist, have been swift to liken the move to taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. They say the drug regulators have been taken in by media hype and over-cautiousness among the police.

Although potentially very harmful, methylamphetamine is much less widely used in the UK than in countries such as the United States, Australia, and the Czech Republic, where it is a big problem. In 2004, nearly 12 million people in . . . [Full text of this article]

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