Regulatory Overreach in the Making: FDA Sets Sights on Cough Medicines (Congress Chokeholds America)

ATR ^ | 8/9/2010 | Mattie Corrao

[Andrea19]

...The hearing, focused on the cough suppressant Dextromethorphan, is another crusade in the latest battle by nanny-staters to overregulate and overreach into the private and informed decisions of consumers.

• Dextromethorphan is a a commonly-used ingredient in over 100 different cold medications. Reports that it is used for widespread recreational use are overstated: studies show that prescription drug abuse is twice as common as the recreational use of cough medicines.
• The response by some to concerns that this drug is being abused has been to push for cold medications containing it to be moved behind the counter. Such a move would unnecessarily increase costs to consumers at a time when taxpayers are already facing a steep increase in health care costs.
• Requiring a prescription for widely available medications will limit accessibility to commonly used cold medicines. This arbitrarily alters the identy of a brand by redefining its relationship with consumers, raising serious trademark concerns.
• Manufacturers have taken the necessary and proper steps to appropriately label these medications to adequately inform consumers of their risks. The FDA would be overstepping its traditional respect for and deference to the labeling and education responsibilities of manufacturers by pushing a relatively benign drug behind the counter.

Read more: http://www.atr.org/regulatory-overreach-making-fda-sets-sights-a5300#ixzz0wKsR8JDq

[Andrea19]

Congress sees opportunity in a moral panic for more power.

Help promote Conservative activism here & here & here & here

[FrankR]

This is for the ones who thought obamacare was about healthcare....cough, cough, cough...

[DBrow]

I dunno, robotripping comes up pretty often with yoot. I think it’s pretty common. The high-dxm meds are behind-the-counter only at CVS and Walgreen near me, I’ve been waiting for more government regulations to keep me safe from, um, what are they protecting me from here?

According to wiki below, FedGov has considered regulating DXM off and on for a while.

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No legal distinction currently exists in the United States between medical and recreational use, sale, or purchase. Some states and/or store chains have implemented restrictions, such as requiring signatures for DXM sale, limiting quantities allowable for purchase, and requiring purchasers to be 18 or over.

The sale of dextromethorphan in its pure powder form may incur penalties, although no explicit law exists prohibiting its sale. There have been cases of individuals being sentenced to time in prison and other penalties for selling pure dextromethorphan in this form, because of the incidental violation of more general laws for the sale of legitimate drugs — such as resale of a medication without proper warning labels.[3]

Dextromethorphan was excluded from the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970 and was specifically excluded from the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Dextromethorphan is still excluded from the CSA (as of 2010), however officials have warned that it could still be added if increased abuse warrants its scheduling.[2] The motivation behind its exclusion from the CSA was that, under the CSA, all optical isomers of listed Schedule II opiates are automatically Schedule II substances. Since dextromethorphan is an optical isomer of the Schedule II opiate levomethorphan, an exemption was necessary to keep it a non-controlled substance. [Wikipedia]

[napscoordinator]

If idiots would stop making drugs out of the stuff we could keep the cough medicines in a regular aisle. Unfortunately people are using this to make all kinds of dangerous illegal drugs.