Pharmacies in Hawke’s Bay are reflecting industry concerns about the reintroduction of non-prescription pseudoephedrine products with a reluctance to reveal plans amid the seasonal run on remedies for hay fever, colds and flu. For the past week pharmacies have, under the Misuse of Drugs (Pseudoephedrine) Amendment Act 2024, had the choice on whether to stock pseudoephedrine products, banned other than by prescription since 2011 because of increasing crime around the use of pseudoephedrine in illicit manufacture of methamphetamine. At the time pharmacies, mainly suburban-based with just one now remaining in inner city Napier, worried about an increasing number of burglaries targeting the products, welcomed the ban.
They were banned near the end of the first term of Prime Minister John Key in 2011, and now about 12 products have been sanctioned for return to sale as a result of legislation which reclassifies pseudoephedrine from a Class B2 controlled drug to Class C3 with no requirement for controlled drug safe storage. It’s in line with an Act party pre-election pledge endorsed in the Government coalition agreement. While a prescription is no longer required, a consultation is needed with a pharmacist to establish the validity of a customer’s need.
One Hawke’s Bay pharmacist, who asked to be anonymous because they did not want their premises known as one that stocked pseudoephedrine, told Hawke’s Bay Today they had questions about why they should have to make the jud.