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Hayfever drugs behind the counter

Monday, 21 August  2006 

Reporter: Dave Lennon

If you suffer from hayfever, you may have noticed that your usual non-prescription hayfever drugs are now kept behind the counter at the pharmacy.

Crimestoppers Chief Executive Officer Alan McLean says it's a measure designed to help counter the manufacture of illegal amphetamines; many hayfever drugs contain pseudoephedrine, one of the ingredients in backyard amphetamines.

"What we're trying to do is minimise the opportunity for the accumulation of pseudoephedrine for these people, backyard cooks who would make these drugs in hidden backyard laboratories.

"What you find is people presenting at a pharmacy with a very specific request for a particular product that they know to be high in pseudoephedrine and then, when the chemist probes a bit, they're sometimes fairly vague on what their symptoms are. The pharmacist will say, 'this material, is it for you? How long have you been sick? What are your symptoms? Have you sought medical treatment? What other medications are you on?' If the would-be customer can't deliver some fairly coherent answers to those sorts of questions, the pharmacist will say, 'thank you sir, no sale.'"

In the past, Mr McLean says the drugs containing pseudoephedrine was usually bought by small teams, going into a pharmacy one after the other, each buying smaller amounts. Multiply a few packets by several team members across a large geographic area, and you end up with a pretty large amount of drugs containing pseudoephedrine. Mr McLean says pharmacists have taken steps on their own behalf in the past to try and prevent the abuse of pseudoephedrine.

"I commend them for their leadership on this issue," he says.

"Firstly, items that were once available on the open shelves for people to pick up three or four packets of this or that, either for purchase or - let's face it, for some of these people - for slipping into their bag and off they go, that's not now on because the pseudoephedrine products are now hidden behind the pharmacist's own counter.

"Secondly, the pharmacists themselves are the only ones who are authorised to approve the sale of these items; it's not a sales assistant's decision. Thirdly, they have minimised the stocks that they keep on the premises, therefore reducing the opportunity for people to target the premises for burglary and theft. And then, as we've just explained, the scrutiny that's applied to 'dodgy' customers."

However, clamping down on the availability of drugs containing pseudoephedrine will not cut out all the illegal backyard labs cooking up amphetamines. What tips someone off that there might be a chemical lab in a given building?

"It might be cars coming and going at all hours or the day and night; it might be excessive security - blacked out windows, or bars on the windows, this sort of thing. You might find that people are taking in glassware, flasks, chemicals - things that ordinarily have no place in a domestic environment.

"You might also find cold and flu wrappers, the blister packs. If you saw a bundle of these things scattered on a vacant lot, you might think 'I wish someone would dispose of their rubbish properly' but if I was to see a quantity of this material scattered on a vacant lot, I'd be wondering if someone nearby might be up to no good."

Backyard amphetamine labs are hazardous workplaces, too - the chemicals involved can be highly flammable, even explosive, which means that the first time you notice your neighbour's speed lab could well be when it blows up in the middle of the night and sets your house on fire as well as theirs.

If you suspect that a neighbour's cooking up amphetamines, Mr McLean has some advice.

"You should never confront anybody at a suspicious premises. These people are in a high-risk and dangerous business for possibly high returns. What we say to people is, be aware. Be watchful but not inquisitive. Note the details, note what's going on at the premises, maybe note a motor vehicle that might be nearby, and give Crime Stoppers a call on the quiet."

The Crime Stoppers number is 1800 333 000. You can remain anonymous if you wish.

Has the measure of having drugs containing pseudoephedrine moved behind the counter had any effect on you? Do you think it will do any good in cutting down on the amount of illegal amphetamines manufactured in our community? Have your say in our guestbook.

Last Updated: 21/08/2006 3:33:00 PM AEST

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