High percentage of over-the-counter medicines used in illegal drug production

The Czech Pharmacists’ Chamber has estimated that some 80 percent of around a million packs of medicine containing pseudoephedrine were abused for the production of the illegal drug pervitin, a methamphetamine, last year. The head of the chamber revealed the information on Friday. The amount of medicine abused is reportedly sufficient for up to one tonne of the illegal substance. The head of the National Anti-Drug Centre Jiří Komorous criticised the over-the-counter sale of medicines containing pseudoephedrine as “unacceptable”. Under current legislation pharmacies can refuse to sell anyone medicine if they suspect it might be used illegally.