Pharmacists urged to join P-pill ban

Pharmacy owners Wayne and Diana Baker won't sell pseudoephedrine. Photo / Richard Robinson

Pharmacists who have stopped selling pseudoephedrine-based cold and flu pills are calling on their colleagues to join them in a stand against P.

But the Pharmacy Guild says banning the chemical would have little effect, as most supplies are now smuggled in direct from China.

Prime Minister John Key said on Monday he would investigate banning pseudoephedrine, which has become notorious as a precursor drug for methamphetamine.

Yesterday several pharmacists, and Manukau Mayor Len Brown, contacted the Herald to push for an immediate voluntary ban in the public interest.

Mt Maunganui pharmacist Mark Bedford said he stopped selling pseudoephedrine-based products last week after reading the Herald's series on P.

"If we are serious about doing this we should just ban it. There are alternative products.

"The issue is not whether the other stuff is effective or not. The issue is the clandestine labs that are using pharmacies and I think the profession needs to take a really strong stand."

Mr Bedford, who is also chairman of Consumer, said pseudoephedrine-based pills could not cure colds and flu anyway, they just helped clear blocked Nasal passages.

"If you've got a blocked nose, use a Nasal spray."

He believed hundreds of pharmacies had stopped selling pseudoephedrine altogether, including all of Rotorua and most of Gisborne.

Pharmacies would also be better off without the constant threat of burglaries. He had been burgled about 10 times in the past 10 years.

"When the phone goes after midnight you know you've got to put your undies on and get into town."

Sandringham pharmacy owners Wayne and Diana Baker - who stopped selling pseudoephedrine six years ago after a 3am ram-raid on their shop - said they wrote to the Herald after reading Saturday's story on Lucci Hennah, who bought tablets from pharmacies as a teenager for her drug-dealing father.

"Somebody needs to stand up to this drug and the damage it's doing to society," said Mrs Baker. "This is our stand. We don't want to be party to it in any way."

She said their suppliers initially refused to give them winter specials on other products unless they agreed to keep selling the drug. Now several major brands, including Codral and Sudafed, came in phenylephrine-based pills instead and sales had not suffered.

A few customers had complained the alternatives were not effective but often the problem was solved with good advice, such as taking the pills more regularly.

Mr Brown said he fully supported Mr Key's decision, which went beyond a voluntary pharmacy ban his council had been working towards since March.

But Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young said a ban would hurt sick people and have little effect on methamphetamine production.

"The problem that needs to be addressed is the importation from China and, actually, you need to address it back in China. Anything else is just tiny.

"You could make pseudoephedrine illegal in New Zealand and you couldn't really discern a noticeable difference in the volumes of P because the big volumes are coming from imported precursors."

She said most pharmacies had already agreed to keep the drug hidden behind the counter and only allow pharmacists to dispense it.

* Pros and cons

What is pseudoephedrine and why are we talking about banning it?

Pseudoephedrine is a chemical used in some cold and flu tablets to help clear blocked noses. It can also be cooked with other chemicals to make methamphetamine, also known as P. Gangs use "pill shoppers" to buy pseudoephedrine-based pills from pharmacies to make the drug.

Who wants to ban it?

Following a week-long campaign in the Herald, Prime Minister John Key announced he wanted to get rid of pseudoephedrine from cold and flu tablets. However, Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young says anecdotal reports suggest the tablets work better than alternative drugs, based on a similar chemical, phenylephrine.

Do the pseudoephedrine-based flu tablets really work better?

A review in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology three years ago described phenylephrine as a poor substitute for pseudoephedrine. However, its author, Professor Ronald Eccles of the Common Cold Centre in Cardiff, declared a potential conflict of interest as he had acted as a consultant for several of the drug companies involved.

Is it worth changing anyway?

Some pharmacists who have stopped selling the drug say the profession has a moral duty to ban it. Manukau Mayor Len Brown agrees, saying any slight difference in medical quality is more than outweighed by the damage caused by P. Others are more cautious. Labour leader Phil Goff supports banning over-the-counter sales of the drug but thinks it should still be available on prescription.

Will a ban stop P being made here?

No, but methamphetamine consultant Mike Sabin said it would deliver a blow to middle and low-level cooks. Annabel Young said it would have virtually no effect because most pseudoephedrine used in P manufacture was smuggled here in huge shipments from China.

Why can't we ask China to stop selling P pre-cursor Contac NT?

New Zealand has tried but no other country has the same problem with direct imports of pseudoephedrine and Contac NT serves a huge legal market in China.

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Patrick Gower