Jump to content
The Corroboree
Sign in to follow this  
spice-of-life

OTC - Cough medicine

Recommended Posts

The other day I saw an online pharmacy that sell a certain cough syrup that contains only Dextromethorphan HBR as the active ingredient but in the fine-print it states that:

If you order 3 or more of this product for the same person it will be upgraded to a Pharmacist Only Medicine and you will be required to call one of our pharmacists after you place your order.

Does this mean that I can only buy two bottles before it is no longer Schedule 2 and only have two bottles in the house at any one time, or that I could buy 2 bottles from 3 different places and have 6 bottles? If I had more than two bottles in the house would it suddenly become illegal or is it only illegal for the pharmacist to sell more than two bottles per transaction?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

well pharmacy only medicine is not illegal, like you can buy codeine otc if you ask a pharmacist for it or what ever... it's just that probably for safety reasons if you want to buy multiple of that cough medicine a pharmacy needs to advise you, legal and safety reasons... i'd say definitely not illegal but i am not at all an expert.

Edited by chnt

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not illegal, but anyone supplying pharmacy only medicine has a duty of care to ensure the patient uses it safely and is aware of potential interactions with other meds etc. The approach depends on the pharmacy. I have made online orders where I included Robo Blue (actually for it's intended purpose), but it was always as part of a larger order of all sorts of stuff. Never bought by itself. For "pharmacy only medicine", they are well within their rights to refuse it's sale if the feel like it, for example if the only items you buy are cough mixture.

I believe that they are, as their duty of care, supposed to ask you about the medicine as they do in an physical shop (mostly). From one online pharmacy, when I tried to submit the order, I had to fill out (specifically for the Robo item) a little online form that asked me if the product was for me or some other family member, if I had any other medical conditions, and my phone number in case they wanted to speak with me. I supplied the info, and the order promptly got delivered without any further interaction from them. Recently, from another place, I was surprised when I was allowed to just make the order without providing further details, and sure enough a few days later it arrived with the rest of the stuff I ordered.

However my orders would not have looked suss at all considering all the other shit I bought at the same time. I just prefer getting everything online as I fucking hate being looked at like a criminal whenever I ask for stuff like that in a chemist, even though my purchases are quite legitimate. I even send my wife in with my licence if I am sick and want some pseudo-containing cold and flu tablets, I just can't handle the stress of it all when I'm already ill and feeling like shit.

So mix it up with other legit stuff you need, toiletries etc. If you just buy 3 robo's, couple of nurofen plus's, some sudafed, a few boxes of restavit, and a dozen kwells then I imagine they'd probably refuse you :P

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think there are laws making it illegal to abuse OTC medicines for recreation, don't quote me though as i've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for skulling DXM containing cough syrup.

I know chemists/pharmacies monitor sales so they can make sure the consumer isn't using the medicine in a manner inconsistent with its labeling or prescription. That being said I don't think they can do anything besides refuse sale, which is how they monitor it.

If you try and buy 3 bottles (6 weeks supply?) of cough medicine they upgrade it to pharmacist only, who then inquires as to why you need 6 weeks supply of cough medicine to which there is no answer unless you do have a really bad cough in which case he will inisist to take a look and prescribe the best medicine which will not be 3 bottles of cough syrup.

I know this as I worked at a pharmacy for a few months

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Chew some ephedra sticks and don't buy any bottles...

you do realise that Dextromethorphan is a powerful dissociative hallucinogen rather than a speedy decongestant?

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

you do realise that Dextromethorphan is a powerful dissociative hallucinogen rather than a speedy decongestant?

 

Yes - I'm well aware of the properties of dxm - It's great fun in moderate amounts - not quite my ball game in large doses though. Having a sitter is a good idea if you're really going to go town on it... (I wish someone had given me that advice years ago) :wink:

I have found ephedra to be a great alternative to cough medicine though. (when used to get rid of a cough that is)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
It's great fun

yep. that feeling as you go up....never felt more like i was in an air plane taking off...full throttle

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I am aware that here in Victoria you may not buy more than 3 Bottles OTC HOWEVER! You may go to one Pharmacy obtain 2 bottles than show up at the next and buy as many as you wish with this method, id imagine it would be the same with online except for the fact that someone has a record of you buying more than 2, If you ask me this law is pretty much pointless maybe the government is trying to stop people from buying large amounts to Extract a large amount and than sell it? im not sure, but you can definitely buy as much as you want LEGALLY.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

about 10 years ago (LOL -- how i long for the naivete of adolescence) someone-who-isn't-me-but-it-really-doesn't-matter-cos-they-weren't-breaking-the-law ordered 50g of BP grade DXM powder from the good peoples of the US and A without any problem from customs.in fact, after they placed the order they started getting all sketch about things and even called customs up and recorded the details of the official with whom they spoke in order to be 100% that it was legal. from memory, "methorphan, but not dextromethorphan" was the official legislation. the company they order it from was hilarious - all they ever seemed to stock was caffeine and DXM powder!

anyway, not sure if such jazz can be undertaken in here these most trying of times, but worth looking into.

HOWEVER spice-of-life: it's really important for you to appreciate that the pharmacy restrictions are simply there to protect you from yourself... everybody knows that ketamine is by far the more superior antitussive agent :P

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Robotussin ain't even a Schedule 2 medicine. get Robo DX. or 200ml bottle of rikodeine.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×