Drugs Medicines and Supplements

Medicines

The Medicines Act (1968) governs the manufacture and supply of medicine. There are three categories:

Prescription Only drugs (POM) can be sold by a pharmacist if prescribed by a doctor.
Pharmacy medicines (P) may be sold by a pharmacist without prescription.
General sales list medicines (GLS) may be sold without a prescription in any shop.

Possession of Prescription Only medicines without a prescription is a serious offence.

Link to the Act: [1]

The electronic medicine compendium [2] has a database of medicines and includes which category each medicine falls into.

Should we allow drugs or medicines to be offered on our groups?

The answer to that is 'no'. A member asked for clarification on this from the MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) in January 2014 and got the following reply, which he forwarded to the central mailbox:

From: Case Referrals <CaseReferrals@mhra.gsi.gov.uk>
Date: 02/01/2014 16:16 (GMT+00:00)
To: xxxxxx
Cc: Case Referrals <CaseReferrals@mhra.gsi.gov.uk>
Subject: FW: Freegle

Many thanks for your e-mail .

Your concerns are well founded, and I would urge to bring the following to the attention of the www.ilovefreegle.org and Freecycle membership.

In order to protect the public’s health, the sale or supply of any medicinal product in the UK is strictly regulated under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

To summarise;

- The sale or supply of a prescription only medicine (POM) other than by a registered pharmacist on receipt of a prescription issued by a qualified heath practitioner, is a criminal offence

- The sale or supply of a pharmacy only medicine (P) other than by a registered pharmacist, is a criminal offence.

- The sale or supply of general sales ledger (GSL) ledger medicine (the sort you would normally find on sale in a non-pharmacy retail outlet) other than from a lockable premises, is in the MHRA’s view, a criminal offence.

The supply of any medicinal product outside the regulated supply chain, poses a serious risk to the public’s health.

Medicines of any kind should not be supplied to the public, other than in the circumstances I have described above.

The MHRA will seek to prosecute those who sell medicinal products outside the regulated supply chain.

Further information about purchasing medicines on-line can be found on the web-link below.

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Patientsandpublic/Buyingcounterfeitmedicinesandmedicinesonline/index.htm

Let me know if you have any further queries.

With best wishes,

Eanna O'Lochlainn
Deputy Team Leader
Case Referral Centre
Inspection, Enforcement & Standards Division
Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

Donate to Africa

The charity InterCare takes unused/returned medicines via your local GP and sends

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