[Editorial] New outlets for medicines

The government is set to submit a bill to the National Assembly to make cold medicines and fever reducers available at supermarkets and convenience stores. Currently these products are sold only at licensed drug stores.

The bill is a follow-up to a government plan announced in June, which is intended to help people get general household medicines more conveniently by making them available at retail outlets. Under this plan, a total of 44 over-the-counter products went on sale at supermarkets and convenience stores in August.

At the time, cold medicines, pain killers and fever reducers were not included because their inclusion required a revision of the Pharmacist Act. Hence the Ministry of Health and Welfare has written a revision bill.

Yet the legislation faces strong resistance from lawmakers. According to reports, most members on the Assembly’s Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Committee are against it, regardless of their party affiliations.

The ostensible reason for their opposition is concerns about side effects. One GNP lawmaker, who was previously a pharmacist, claimed that the ministry wrote the bill without carefully analyzing the safety problems involved in selling painkillers and cold medicines outside pharmacies.

He said the ministry ignored the drug abuse data compiled by the Korea Food and Drug Administration. The data shows painkillers and cold medicines are among the 10 most commonly abused drugs. He added the ministry’s plan could worsen drug addiction problems among teenagers.

GNP leader Hong Joon-pyo, who was once a prosecutor in charge of narcotic control, weighed in, saying that selling some cold medicines outside drug stores would be dangerous because they contain ingredients that could be used to make methamphetamine. He also opposed selling Tylenol at supermarkets because its main drug, acetaminophen, is highly toxic.

These concerns are not unfounded. But the government’s bill addresses most of them. For instance, retailers are required to complete a training session to obtain a sales permit. To prevent drug abuse or overdoses, the bill calls for regulating the number of medicine packs per sale. It also bans selling medicine to kids under a certain age.

An official from the Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Council, an advisory organ to the health and welfare minister, said these measures would make selling cold medicines and painkillers at retail outlets not much different from selling them at drug stores.

We agree with this view. Hence we suspect that the lawmakers who oppose the bill were lobbied by pharmacists. It is no secret that pharmacists have been campaigning to scuttle the government’s scheme because it would reduce their income.

The lawmakers need to realize that the government’s plan is supported by a large majority of the public. Hence, if they attempt to delay or hinder the passage of the bill, they do so at their own peril. They cannot avoid judgment by voters in the April general election.