WARNING - Scam in your local pharmacy

pendulum

It might stop people from impulse overdosing if they just happened to have 100 pills (bought in one pack) in the cupboard at the time though.
If they only have 32 to take, the consequences aren't as bad. The rules/policies might have helped a few people in that way, but it won't stop anyone who's determined and thinking clearly from accumulating a few hundred over a short space of time.

shaun_from_Africa

If they only have 32 to take, the consequences aren't as bad.

Whether someone takes 32 tablets or 132 tablets, the consequences are exactly the same.
The generally accepted fatal dose of paracetamol is 12 grams (24 500mg tablets), so buying 2 packs of 16 tablets is far more than is actually required if someone wanted to use these to commit suicide.

Jonarr

barbiedoll wrote: »

OP, if paracetamol are cheaper at the supermarket, why not buy them there?

That is where I buy them, but I am just alerting other to the scam.

pendulum

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Whether someone takes 32 tablets or 132 tablets, the consequences are exactly the same.

I'm not sure about that, the LD50 may be 12g or 24 tablets, but that's left untreated isn't it? And assuming some aren't vomited back up? You can take 32 and still have a fair chance of survival with treatment I'm sure (though you will have liver damage).

Carl31

Jonarr wrote: »

That is where I buy them, but I am just alerting other to the scam.

Good job youre here dude

Thanks :T

Oh, thought id let you know, dont go to mc donalds for burgers, in tesco you can get 4 for a quid? You can only get 1 in mc ds i think?

meer53

This has horrible similarities to the £10,000 can of beans thread last week. !!

fluffnutter

corbyboy wrote: »

I doubt it. 500mg of paracetamol is 500mg of paracetamol. Writing "Panadol" on the box doesn't make it "more effective."

Incidentally there are surprisingly wide tolerances allowed in drug manufacture, and the amount of active ingredient can vary quite significantly. Cheaper brands, guess what, often contain less active ingredient.

Other factors that people might want to take into account when buying medicines are that products marketed by big pharmaceutical companies will have the cost of research and development factored into their prices whereas smaller companies which merely buy off-label drugs (e.g. paracetamol) and market them won't be so expensive because they don't do any research.

Not that I'm particularly in favour of branded drugs; I wouldn't for example buy Nurofen, I'd always buy the chemist's own ibuprofen, but I think it's useful to be aware of the wider issues.

corbyboy

fluffnutter wrote: »

Incidentally there are surprisingly wide tolerances allowed in drug manufacture, and the amount of active ingredient can vary quite significantly. Cheaper brands, guess what, often contain less active ingredient.

This is news to me. Do you know anywhere I can find more about this?

Lip_Stick

Dave_C wrote: »

The local pharmacy is probably part of a large chain so the bulk buying discounts will also apply and so they are are making a large profit on your paracetamol.

It doesn't help having the utterly stupid and pointless law limiting paracetamol to 32 tablets per purchase to stop paracetamol overdose. In adjacent stores I can buy paracetamol in Wilkos, Boots, Manor Pharmacy and a Newsagents.

Dave

I was in a pound shop a while ago, they were selling paracetamol at 3 boxes of 16 for a £1.

biscit

rustyboy21 wrote: »

What I would complain about more , is the fact that you can buy paracetamol at 21p from a supermarket, which is exactly the same product as the branded product, which costs £3 to £4 !

That I would say it a rip off and a scam of biblical proportions !

It's not identical. That is, the active ingredient is identical, but the tablet shape and packaging is different.

In tests brand name painkillers do work better. Even with people who know that the important part is exactly the same. The placebo effect is very powerful and shouldn't be dismissed.

Identical products in different packaging perform differently too.