Chemists: get tough on 'P' pills

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Health officials are being urged to ban some cold and flu pills or make them prescription-only to stop them being used for the illegal drugs speed and P.

Such a ban would apply to some of the best decongestants on the market, such as Actifed, Sudafed and Nurofen Cold and Flu.

Calls to ban the pseudoephedrine-based pills come from pharmacists sick of customers getting angry when asked to show photo identification to buy the pills.

Some are already refusing to stock the pills after being robbed or burgled.

The president of the Pharmacy Guild, Richard Heslop, said the problems had prompted some pharmacists to call for a ban.

"The unfortunate part is that it inconveniences the genuine purchaser - it's the best decongestant we have available."

The Waitemata District Health Board has lobbied the Ministry of Health to make the pills prescription-only.

Board member Warren Flaunty said the call was made to help tackle P addiction, "destroyed families" and "customers who become so irate".

Such a move would effectively kill sales of the pills, since most people with colds or flu would rather self-medicate than visit doctors for prescriptions.

The Government has responded by considering whether to reclassify the pills under the Misuse of Drugs Act, as recommended by the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs.

The plan is to make pseudoephedrine a class C drug - the same broad category that applies to some forms of cannabis.

Ministry of Health media adviser Joanne Perry said pharmacy customers would notice little difference under the plan but border officials would have stronger powers to control imports.

The Herald revealed yesterday that Customs Service staff were struggling to deal with a surge of pseudoephedrine imports that could bring four million pills in for illegal drug factories this year.

Customs was hamstrung by provisions in the act that made it hard to prosecute the importers.

Joanne Perry said the proposal might go through Parliament within two months.

Pharmacists yesterday said it had become almost universal during the past three months to ask for photo identification when customers wanted the pills.

Packets costing around $14 could be sold to illegal drug factories for $100.

Police believe 95 per cent of speed and P in New Zealand is made from the pills.