Why is Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) back on the shelf?

March 4, 2008 7:09 AM

Why is Sudafed (pseudoephedrine) back on the shelf? Both Sudafed and Duane Reade's store brand are back out on the open shelf at Duane Reade here in NYC. I've searched but I can't find any recent change in the regulations that have kept these drugs behind the store counter with purchasing restrictions for a couple of years now. Have the rules changed?
posted by JimN2TAW to health (20 comments total)

There's a reformulation using Phenylephrine that is sold on the shelf - are you sure that's not what you're seeing?
posted by yarrow at 7:11 AM on March 4

You're seeing the Phenylephrine version, not the pseudoephedrine version. If none of the stores have a special spot on the shelf for the psuedoephedrine section (with a card you bring up to the front or pharmacy to buy a box) then just go to the front and ask for it. The rules haven't changed but the stores might have limited shelf space because, well, it's NYC.
posted by Stynxno at 7:24 AM on March 4

Thirding the possibility that what you see is Sudafed PE.
posted by billtron at 7:29 AM on March 4

And, btw, I do not find that phenylephedrine does ANYTHING for me. Honestly, I might as well take a sugar pill.

I have noticed that the procedure used for real pseudoephedrine, at least in Mass., has improved greatly. It is behind the counter, but you don't need a pharmacist any more-- it is more like where they keep cigarettes. You go up, ask for it, they scan your license, and then you are done.
posted by gregvr at 7:43 AM on March 4

And, btw, I do not find that phenylephedrine does ANYTHING for me. Honestly, I might as well take a sugar pill.

My wife and a friend have both noted this as well.
posted by yerfatma at 7:49 AM on March 4

I was just in a NYC Duane Reade and the only thing they had was Sudafed PE, and I am currently hacking up a lung, praying for death, and nthing its uselessness. There's a little yellow note on the label that indicates it does not contain pseudoephedrine.
posted by mochapickle at 8:03 AM on March 4

Read the labels carefully to be sure it's actually pseudoephedrine, and not just something else under the Sudafed brand name (on Preview, yes, as others have said). Note that the Nyquils you can buy OTC these days also have a decongestant that is not pseudoephedrine as well.

Boy, did I have to jump through hoops to buy the real thing last time (upstate NY, a month or two ago), show ID, sign a special form, pay for it as a separate transaction than my other purchases.
posted by aught at 8:12 AM on March 4

And, btw, I do not find that phenylephedrine does ANYTHING for me.

That stuff is quite controversial -- in numerous studies it appears difficult to demonstrate that phenylephedrine has any effect beyond placebo.
posted by randomstriker at 8:44 AM on March 4

Thanks for your comments, but I know the difference. I bought pseudoephedrine, not PE. I'll speculate that it was a temporary mistake at Duane Reade and I'll try to follow up as time permits.
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:51 AM on March 4

Weird, I just noticed this at a QFC in Seattle and was wondering the same thing (hooray for seasonal allergy season!). And yes, it was the real stuff. I was thinking mistake too until I saw this thread (of course, it could still just be a mistake).
posted by j.edwards at 9:21 AM on March 4

He/she's right, I saw this too a few weeks ago at a Duane Reade in Manhattan, except it was Aleve Cold & Sinus- which is chock full of pseudoephedrine. I thought they must have screwed up. Could they be easing off of this idiocy?
posted by Dormant Gorilla at 10:54 AM on March 4

My doctor told me to make sure to buy Claritin-D, because the stuff without psuedoephedrine was worthless. He told me it was available over the counter. At first I didn't believe him because I couldn't find it on the shelves when I got to the pharmacy. I finally asked at the actual counter, where they sold it to me, but only after I showed a picture ID and signed for it.
posted by trip and a half at 12:55 PM on March 4

The CVS I frequent can scan driver's licenses instead of making you sign a log book. Not all of them can, though.
posted by oaf at 1:56 PM on March 4

Very cool if it is true. Last time I bought real Sudafed I caught a glimpse of the pseudoephedrine logbook. Only 6 other people had purchased pseudoephedrine at that (fairly busy) pharmacy in the last year. I wondered if drug companies would stop making over-the-counter pseudoephedrine products because it's impossible to sell them.

I also find phenylephrine to be useless. The last time I got a killer sinus infection a friend offered me some Sudafed that he said was the pseudoephedrine variety. It did nothing at all, so I asked to see the box and sure enough it was Sudafed PE.
posted by rhiannon at 4:38 PM on March 4

Phenylephrine is ineffective.
posted by polyglot at 5:21 PM on March 4

Please learn what pseudoephedrine is and isn't before you give medical advice. It is NOT an antihistamine, nor is it for lungs.

To answer your question, the laws and guidelines for keeping it behind the counter are a patchwork, and may have lapsed in your area.
posted by gjc at 8:34 PM on March 4

I'm the OP.

gjc's post is a combination of a relevant (but unsupported) comment (the laws may have lapsed) and an insult (I never said that pseudoephedrine is an antihistamine or gave medical advice).

Many, many of the posts here didn't address the original question, but instead discussed an irrelevant medication.

The posts that suggested that I'm not smart enough to read the labels on the boxes were insulting as well.

Have a nice day.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:25 AM on March 5

JimN2TAW, I hope you aren't too offended by people trying to help. If you notice, once you acknowledged that Sudafed PE was not what you saw, people stopped suggesting that it might have been. I bet that if you had mentioned your awareness of the difference between pseudoephedrine and phenylephedrine in your original question you would have received a very different set of answers.
posted by billtron at 9:39 AM on March 5

You're right, Bill. I wanted to respond just to gjc's post (talking about antihistamines of all things) and then I got carried away. Sorry, everybody who's still reading this!
posted by JimN2TAW at 1:47 PM on March 5

It looks like the basic "behind the counter, sign a log book" provisions are federal law, from the reauthorization of the Patriot Act in 2006, per the wikipedia entry and other googling around. (NY Times article from 2005.) Doesn't sound like anything has changed there. There apparently is also a NY State reg about it but I haven't found the specifics or whether it requires more than the federal law does. Nowhere have I seen mention of what the penalties are when some Duane Reade employee screws up and stocks the real Sudafed out on the shelf, which I agree is probably what happened here.
posted by yarrow at 4:53 PM on March 5