Drug Store Madness

In the States, I hear, many of the states are starting to require, if you want to buy psuedoephedrine, that you buy it at the pharmacy counter, even though it's still an over-the-counter drug. Iowa, actually, has been doing this for at least a year, and Maryland started doing it not long before we left for the Philippines. If it reduces the amount of ice, or crystal meth, produced in home-made drug labs, well, it's probably a good idea.

In the Philippines, there's not much you can buy off the shelf, aside from things like deodorant, toothpaste and shampoo. So imagine my surprise when, on my third or fourth day in the country, I went to buy some Robitussin* ... and found it just sitting there for the taking, no pharmacist intervention required.

"Well, things must be changing in the Philippines, or what I read was just wrong," I thought. "That should make trips to the pharmacy much more convenient for me."

So today, when I headed into a pharmacy to pick up some saline solution for my contact lenses, I naturally looked next to the deodorant, toothpaste and shampoo, only to find that, while Robitussin is available freely off the shelf, saline solution -- that addictive, dangerous saline solution -- has to be purchased directly from the pharmacist.

There's probably something logical about this, but I haven't figured it out yet.

* The Robitussin, at P119, or just over $2, was a welcome change to the $13 bottle I bought at LAX on my way over. The average isn't quite there yet, though, so I'm thinking I might need to develop another nasty cough...