A pharmaceutical company wants the cold and flu drug pseudoephedrine out from behind the counter and back on pharmacy shelves.
By Rowan Quinn for RNZ
Reckitt Benckiser has put in an application with drug regulator Medsafe to make the medicine easier to purchase.
The medicine - a precursor for manufacturing methamphetamine or P - was no longer a threat in its retail form because criminal gangs imported their raw ingredients in bulk, Reckitt said in its application.
Currently, pseudoephedrine was available as a restricted medicine from pharmacies, meaning it was not stocked on open shelves.
People who wanted to buy it must instead ask a pharmacist, who would decide if it was suitable for them, before providing it.
Under the new proposal, small packets of the pill form, effectively one day's worth, would be available for people to select themselves, alongside medicines like Panadol and ibuprofen.
It would still only be sold in pharmacies.
Pseudoephedrine was made a prescription-only drug in 2011 because of its use in the manufacture of P.
But in 2024, it was reclassified to its current status after ACT's David Seymour pushed for the change on the back of an election campaign promise.
Reckitt's application said the proposed change would give New Zealanders better access to a very effective nasal decongestant and lessen the workload of stretched pharmacists.
Heavily restricting pseudoephedrine in 2011 did not effectively control the supply and use of meth in New Zealand, it said.
"The supply and manufacture of methamphetamine use in New Zealand has shifted from small-scale production, where pharmacy-sourced pseudoephedrine was the main precursor used," it said.
Instead, there was "large-scale clandestine manufacture" with ingredients brought in from overseas or bulk importation of methamphetamine, the application said.
When pseudoephedrine was banned from shelves in 2011, many cold and flu remedies changed to the drug phenylephrine.
That was now the subject of a class action lawsuit after evidence it was ineffective.
Medsafe's Medicines Classification Committee would discuss Reckitt's application at its meeting next month.
The public could make submissions on the proposal until October 5.
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