The growing trend of using over-the-counter remedies as recreational drugs is cause for alarm, says a Grahamstown pharmacist, with some addicts using two or more doctors and pharmacists to supply their "fix".
The growing trend of using over-the-counter remedies as recreational drugs is cause for alarm, says a Grahamstown pharmacist, with some addicts using two or more doctors and pharmacists to supply their "fix".
Existing regulations meant to prevent the problem are ineffective. "I have noticed that there is a gradual increase in the number of people turning to 'legal' drugs just so they can forget about their problems," said the pharmacist at Ret Butler Pharmacy in High Street, John Frielinghaus.
These drugs, in the form of tablets, capsules, syrup and powder, ranged from painkillers to cough mixtures and could be bought anywhere, by anyone.
With 27 years experience as a pharmacist, Frielinghaus defined this form of drug abuse as a sustained non-necessary use of schedule 1 or 2 medicines for the euphoric effect they induced, resulting in addiction. "People walk into pharmacies and supermarkets and buy drugs in vast quantities," said Frielinghaus.
"It's usually people who are down on their luck, or unemployed, or people whose lives are boring and who are looking for another way to pass the time."
Painkillers and cough mixtures containing codeine, and to a lesser extent alcohol, were the most commonly abused over-the-counter remedies, he said, along with certain appetite suppressants which contained stimulants.
Frielinghaus said this form of substance abuse was more common among communities in which the consumption of alcohol was frowned on.
*Amirah, 27, started abusing over-the-counter drugs in 2008, after she had a miscarriage and lost her job. "At the time, I didn't know what to do. I was very depressed and angry. I spent several months going to several doctors at a time and getting prescriptions for antidepressants. "I always wanted more, so I decided to stock up on any medicines that contained codeine. I enjoyed it and I still do," she said.
"I know that I should stop my addiction before I end up in the cemetery, but I am not prepared to do that, yet. "And I'm too scared to go to a rehab about it. That would shame me and my religion," said Amirah, who is Muslim.
Frielinghaus said some of the side-effects of schedule 1 and 2 drug abuse included kidney and liver damage, an altered heart rate and an increased risk of heart failure and seizures.
He said all pharmacies were required by the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act 101 of 1965 to record a customer's name and address for any Schedule 2 medicine sale. It states, "Any sale shall only take place on condition that all the prescribed particulars of every sale shall be recorded in the prescribed manner in a prescription book or other permanent record required to be kept in the prescribed manner.
"This is not practical, for various reasons," Frielinghaus said. "First, people can supply fake details and get away with it. "Second, there will be a lot of admin work involved for pharmacists and those working at pharmacies."
Also, Frielinghaus said, if he turns away a client, they simply go to the next available pharmacy or shop. Grahamstown Pharmacy's Wimpie Bosch agreed that the law's requirements were not easy to put into practice because it was time-consuming.
"But it is very effective," he said. "For any schedule 2 drug sale, we capture the client's details onto our database. This way we can keep track of an individual who comes very regularly."
* Not her real name.
