When did aspirin become a controlled drug? (It is now)

[connda]

Thailand never fails to amaze me.  Cannabis in now legal and.....regular old aspirin is now a controlled drug.  ????

I went to one of my local pharmacies in Lamphun looking for a bottle of 81mg aspirin.  The owner of the store (and actual pharmacist) was there and said that all she had was the strips of 10 and that aspirin was soon only going to be available from a hospital???  The discussion was half in English and half in Thai.  I took the packaged aspirin back home and deciphered that almost illegibly small print in red.  It says (excuse me but in this case I need to use Thai:  ยาควบคุมพิเศษ)  That translates as "specially controlled drug."  What? Why?

I don't have access to MIMS anymore. 
@Sheryl  Can you find out more information on the why and when aspirin has become and controlled substance in Thailand.
It's a run of the mill NSAID.  NSAIDs have their safety issues granted, but I wonder if this is going to herald a crackdown on all forms of OTC NSAIDs? 
Thanks! 

[it is what it is]

 

it's normal to restrict the amount of certain medicines a pharmacy will sell you. e.g. in the uk there's a limit to the number of paracetamol you can buy in one go.

 

far from complaining i'd be happy the pharmacist in question is being professionally responsible and in all probability following government guidelines.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I think it is because of aspirin's link to Reye's Syndrome.

Edited February 14, 2023 by Etaoin Shrdlu
spelling

[orchis]

 

[Mickeymaus]

I've tried buying it from the big pharmacies like Boots and P&F. You can't get it there without a prescription anymore. Then I went to a no-name pharmacy and got it there.

I don't know if it has anything to do with that. But years ago, a lot of Russians bought this and brought it back to Russia. At this time it was very hard to get it because they bought huge quantities here. 

[3NUMBAS]

you can buy aprin in the uk anywhere inc a sweet shop so different factors in los at play

[nigelforbes]

If you ask for aspirin you may well be refused. But if you ask for Aspent, which is 81 mg enteric coated aspirin, there is usually no problem.

[Sheryl]

For some bizarre reason, MIMS is now showing some aspirin products as NDD (non-dangerous drug), some as "D" ("dangerous" drug but still OTC, sales limited to first grade pharmacists) and some as S, special controlled drug requiring prescription. No apparent rhyme or reason to it, and many of the aspirin preparations don't have full listing in Mims so I can only check on a few brands.

 

in some cases aspirin by the same company is listed as D for 325mg dose but S for the 81 mg dose.

 

Asatab (T.O. Chemicals) is listed as NDD

 

Aspirin BD 325 mg is listed as D

 

Aspirin BD (British Dispensary) 81 mg is listed as S )special controlled drug)

 

Looks to me like the companies are themselves confused as to how their products should be categorized

 

One can still get aspirin from the various online suppliers (Bangkokdrugstore, Medisafe, Medtide etc)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[3NUMBAS]

in the boonies thais use a piece of wood with the aspirin therin...willow bark is common in issan ,no need to visit pharmecy

[NoDisplayName]

I read that the aspirin restrictions were due to people treating Dengue fever with too much aspirin.

Quote

The over-the-counter (OTC) drug acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) can help reduce muscle pain and fever. But if you have dengue fever, you should avoid other OTC pain relievers, including aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, others) and naproxen sodium (Aleve). These pain relievers can increase the risk of dengue fever bleeding complications.

 

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dengue-fever/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353084

 

[KhunLA]

Try a different pharmacy as I just bought a years (6x60tabs) supply about 8 days ago.

[EmrNon]

A few years back a chemist in boots explained that thai people were sensitive to some form of advese reaction to aspirin which was why it was not as widely available as other painkillers in the pharmacies.

 

A search on the web brings up this link from 2019

 

https://www.thailandmedical.news/news/healthy-ethnic-asians-at--high-risk-of-brain-bleeds-from-taking-preventive-low-aspirin-doses

 

 

[Puccini]

On MIMS, looked up just now, I can find only one Aspirin 81 mg, Aspirin BD 81 mg of British Dispensary, and it is classified as Specially Controlled Drug.

 

Quote

 

S = Special Controlled Drug (ยาควบคุมพิเศษ)

A first grade pharmacist shall be on duty at the premises selling modern drugs. Sale to public is on prescription only. Daily purchase and sale record required.

 

 

[Puccini]

Aspirin BD 325 mg, also of British Dispensary, is classified as Dangerous Drug.

 

Quote

 

D = Dangerous Drug (ยาอันตราย)

A first grade pharmacist shall be on duty at the premises selling modern drugs, at all times, while the premises are open for operation. Daily purchase and sale record required.

 

[redwood1]

If you guys think that the goverment is having sleepless nights about 1 in a million people having a bad reactions to asprin...Reye's Syndrome....Or any other such nonsense.....Get real......

 

The main problem with asprin I think is .....Its been proven to be very effective by billions of people billions of times for over 100 years and its very very cheap...

 

That its very very cheap is the main problem that the drug overloards see that needs a big correction in my opinion....

[redwood1]

6 hours ago, it is what it is said:

 

it's normal to restrict the amount of certain medicines a pharmacy will sell you. e.g. in the uk there's a limit to the number of paracetamol you can buy in one go.

 

far from complaining i'd be happy the pharmacist in question is being professionally responsible and in all probability following government guidelines.

Yawn......Are grown adults children that need their hand held by big brother from birth to death....You sure seem to think so......How about people deciding for themselfs whats best....

[Sheryl]

10 hours ago, Puccini said:

Aspirin BD 325 mg, also of British Dispensary, is classified as Dangerous Drug.

 

This is the same classification as at least  95% of medications bought over the counter in Thailand. 

[ourmanflint]

I was told by the wife that some new law states that almost all drugs can now only be sold when there is a pharmacist in residence, she could not even buy Imodium anywhere early evening because of this new rule

[KhunLA]

14 minutes ago, ourmanflint said:

I was told by the wife that some new law states that almost all drugs can now only be sold when there is a pharmacist in residence, she could not even buy Imodium anywhere early evening because of this new rule

Always been the policy at Boots & Watson's, to the point, I stopped going to them, as more times than not, pharmacist MIA.

 

Yet to have any problem, getting anything ... YMMV

[connda]

19 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Always been the policy at Boots & Watson's, to the point, I stopped going to them, as more times than not, pharmacist MIA.

 

Yet to have any problem, getting anything ... YMMV

Like you, the majority of times I go to Watsons there isn't a pharmacist on duty.  Their stores seem to be tailored toward the sale of things like cosmetics and skin care, for example, and secondarily the sale of OTC drugs.
There's one in the Big C where I shop.  I stopped going to them because either the pharmacist is MIA or they don't have what I'm looking for.  The pharmacy upstairs in Big C is better stocked and more apt to have a pharmacist on duty.  Still, I get most of what I need from a couple of pharmacies that I've been shopping at for year in Chiang Mai.  Large stocks, pharmacist always on duty.  Why bother with large corporate stores imho.

[HuskerDo2]

Yet another thing to consider for people who might want to think about a cheap Asian country to retire to. They can restrict the medications you need to survive for no obvious reason just like so many of the other nonsensical decisions that are made by the IIC (Idiots In Charge). 

[Negita43]

The reason many years ago in the UK that they restricted the amount of Paracetamol you could buy in one go was that people were using it to commit suicide and I guess the other NSAIDs got caught up in that. The idea being that buying enough in packs of 16 gave you time to "reconsider" your actions!

Of course the manufacturers love this restriction if you looked at the price of 100 aspirin before and then the price of buying 100 in packs of 16 after you'll know why!

I have had trouble for years getting the small dose aspirin here and when I return from my  trips to the UK I bring it back with me (It's prescribed to me by the doctor) I am now concerned what will happen if they are found in my luggage.

[Sheryl]

1 hour ago, Negita43 said:

I have had trouble for years getting the small dose aspirin here and when I return from my  trips to the UK I bring it back with me (It's prescribed to me by the doctor) I am now concerned what will happen if they are found in my luggage.

 

As long as they are clearly labelled and quantity looks consistent with short term personal use , absolutely nothing.  This is not a narcotic.

 

But you could also easily get it here.

[tjintx]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:26 PM, nigelforbes said:

If you ask for aspirin you may well be refused. But if you ask for Aspent, which is 81 mg enteric coated aspirin, there is usually no problem.

....and, don't ever ask for "baby aspirin", which is what 81mg aspirin is commonly called in the US.   The first time I was looking for this in Thailand using that misnomer, the pharmacists looked at me in horror.   I imagine that they were thinking I was going to poison young children.

[NotReallyHere]

On 2/15/2023 at 1:21 AM, redwood1 said:

That its very very cheap is the main problem that the drug overloards see that needs a big correction in my opinion....

Is there any topic that can't be twisted into a conspiracy theory?

[redwood1]

6 minutes ago, NotReallyHere said:

Is there any topic that can't be twisted into a conspiracy theory?

Nope....