Metropol

i've got a really stinky headache, i suffer from them hardly ever, but today is one of those days where i'm in quite a bit of pain and it's affecting my thinking.

to make matters worse, i'm doing the choons at my mates party tonight. one of the many things i learnt from james martin is that a "dj" needs to have plenty of "personality", so my mind needs to be in fine fettle.

anyway, when did this stupid ban preventing you from buying two packets of paracetamol based painkillers come into force?

surely if i really wanted to buy shit loads of painkillers i'd just either store them up or go to a different shop?

and isn't it sad that the shop assistant doesn't (seem to) have any discretion at all?

i mean does a couple of packs of painkillers, a packet of roast beef monster much and a tin of fanta really look like the shopping basket of a suicidal twenty-something?

nanny state gone mad.

I once went to a supermarket and discovered in the abandoned products section several boxes of paracetemol, some lengths of rope, and some sharp knives. Presumably they settled on something else.

I popped into Sainsbury's the other day and wanted to buy a packet of Nurofen and Sudofed. I was told I could only have one or the other.

It's to do with only pharmacists being allowed to dole out large quantities of painkillers.

Consequently there's a voluntary code of practice (not a legal requirement, though) amongst retailers to limit the quantity of painkillers sold through a checkout - two packets of 16 is the usual maximum.

Stupid - maybe, but there is a reasonable reason (?!) behind it.

The rules on mixing paracetamol and other painkillers are fairly recent I think.

If you stick to one drug, the two packets of sixteen limit still applies, as far as I know; but if you want to mix two different drugs you need the pharmacist to be present to nod his head.

The latest rule change came in at the same time as co-proxamol was withdrawn.

in my university days, when i was checkout supremo at a well known midlands-based supermarket, the way we interpreted the rule was customers could purchase upto two packets of each type of pain killer. so two packets of paracetamol (or derivative), plus two ibuprofen etc etc.

lack of understanding on till staff's part means that the rule is frequently misinterpreted. indeed i've encountered staff at the same said store (since my departure) who refuse to allow more an two packets of any pain killing medication irrespective of their contents. fools!!

my favourite quirk of policy was age restricting sales of energy drinks such as redbull. i can't remember if it was a company policy or a legal thing, but when a customer deserved it, it was a good one to enforce.

Dr Lobster* wrote:surely if i really wanted to buy shit loads of painkillers i'd just either store them up or go to a different shop?

Most suicides are impulsive. If people do insist on stockpiling painkillers or traipsing round half the shops in the highstreet to buy them, at least it gives them some time to change their minds.

Although research does suggest that if you remove access to one method of suicide, people will just pick a different one. I'm sure I read that railway deaths have gone up significantly since 1998, which is when retailers began limiting the amount of painkillers people can buy.

Chie wrote:

Dr Lobster* wrote:surely if i really wanted to buy shit loads of painkillers i'd just either store them up or go to a different shop?

Most suicides are impulsive.

That would be fascinating, were it not completely false.

lukey wrote:That would be fascinating, were it not completely false.

It's true for overdoses.

Can you give some evidence?

Jovis wrote:Can you give some evidence?

No, can you give me some evidence that it's not?

The whole point is that it's meant to limit the amount of painkillers people have in the home.