It is myunderstanding that this substance used to be only available via prescription – it isn’t “naturally ocurring” like asprin. So it had to go through some form of FDA testing and approval before it made it to shelves. I would expect that if it were like other drugs, it was prescription only, then after being shown safe, the makers applied for and received permission to have it as OTC in less-concentrated amounts. This is the typical path for OTC drugs.

There have been instances where a prescription-only drug is pulled (e.g. Vioxx) and there are Prescription Only (PO) drugs that will never be OTC. In this case, we have a PO that made it to OTC and is now found to have some negative side effects when made OTC. There are four options;
- Leave it as is. In this case, the FedGov and Drug Companies could probably be held negligent for allowing a known harmful product to remain openly available.
- Return it to PO status. This would increase health-care costs, but it would certainly cut down on abuse.
- Hybrid the OTC & PO status to a “Behind The Counter” status. This requires crafting a new set of laws and enforcements. And we all know that – like locks – it really is a hassle for honest people and only prevents noob’s from harm. Serious criminals will find ways around it.
- Remove the drugs from availability. This would do more harm than good. Pro’lly won’t happen.

Given all that, I agree with the “BTC” status.
What I don’t like is the half-baked (pardon the pun) set of laws, processes, and enforcements. The security around the information is crap – we all know that. The “hassle factor” is high – it should be as easy as swiping your DL when the item is scanned. Or it should be enforced just as cigarettes and alchohol are. If those two do not require recorded info for purchase, neither should this.

I think *something* should have been done. What has been done, however, is too draconian for me. Perhaps this is a “future” test to see if tobacco and alchohol will require the same “information gathering” actions.

“Little by little.
Bit by bit.
Freedom is chipped away.
Lest the populace awaken,
and reclaim their Natural Rights.”

“It is not the function of the government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”— U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson

“We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: The stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission – which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.”–Ayn Rand

Oh, and of course it goes without saying that absolutely no one in the pharmaceuticals industry is going to do any “moonlighting” on the side, now that the black market prices will be driven higher. Follow the money on any of these Prohibitions, and I submit it will lead to a political office holder somewhere – likely a bunch of them – just like it did in 1929.

Now I might have to go get a much more expensive prescription from my doctor. But hey, a least those tweekers aren’t making their own meth!