Senate rejects amendment on cold and flu medicines

The Senate has rejected an amendment requiring medicines containing pseudoefedrin to be sold by prescription - an attempt to curb abuse of the substance in the production of the illegal street drug pervetine. The Senate returned the legislation to the lower house with modifications. The original amendment, put forward by the health minister, required customers to provide ID for such medicines, but an opposition MP pushed through the change that such drugs would only be available though prescription. The proposal was welcomed by Czech pharmacists, who say it would effectively block mass purchases for illegal production. But it was opposed by the health minister who contended that prescriptions would overly complicate matters for patients.

Author: Jan Velinger