What's the deal with Sudafed?

[injuryupdate]

A long-standing drug controversy in the NRL and AFL just became more interesting when the extent of the abuse of pseudoephedrine was uncovered in a recent drug bust. Pseudoephedrine, most often taken as Sudafed tablets by football players, is legal in Australian competitions but is on the IOC banned list. It is illegal for rugby league and union players in international matches. However, the World Anti-Doping Agency is considering legalising pseudoephidrine. The reason for the NRL and AFL having already legalised Sudafed and related medications is one of practicality - so many over-the-counter medications contain pseudoephedrine that there would inevitably be cases of inadvertent use during a winter football season if these medications were all banned. Another reason is that scientific studies have repeatedly shown that Sudafed doesn't give any performance enhancement. (read a sample paper at http://www.thieme-connect.com/cgi-bin/DOI?10.1055/s-2003-37193 ). However, studies are limited in that ethically they are limited to using standard doses, with no work being done on either the performance effects or the safety of doses many times higher than those recommended on the packet. The 'deal' with pseudoephedrine is that it can be melted down and turned into much stronger varieties of stimulant-type drugs, all of which are illegal in all sports, and all of which are worth a fortune on the black market. The abuse by the recreational drug industry is so great that if pseudoephedrine was released as a new (rather than established) product today it would almost certainly require a doctor's prescription. Even now, in Australia pharmacies are required to take personal details of purchasers of Sudafed to limit commercial purchase by the recreational drug industry.

[jess]

Sudafed is a stimulant, more so than caffeine in my experience. It would be practically very difficult to ban pseudoephidrine as it is in so many different preparations, but if/when it is legal (as it is now in most sports) I would expect the vast majority of athletes to use it. I can't imagine anyone moving any slower on the sporting field after loading up with Sudafed.

[Rod Whiteley]

I seem to remember some research (perhaps done on ice hockey players) which showed that it delayed the onset of the perceived fatigue threshold - in my experience that's why footballers took large bucket fulls of the stuff.

[injuryupdate]

From SMH:

Flu tablet sting: four pharmacists charged
By Jano Gibson
May 27, 2005 - 3:00PM

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Four Sydney pharmacists will face court for inappropriately selling large amounts of cold and flu tablets.

The tablets contain pseudoephedrine, a precursor commonly used in the manufacture of illegal drugs like speed and ice.

Police said their action against the pharmacists would make it harder for drug manufacturers to operate.

"By restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine we make it a lot tougher for criminals to set up illegal laboratories and cook up these dangerous drugs," Drug Squad Detective Inspector Paul Willingham said.

Police said the four had breached the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulations by regularly supplying multiple packets of pseudoephedrine-based products.

Mr Willingham said pharmacists should sell only one packet of cold and flu tablets per customer, unless under exceptional circumstances.

"In each case, the sale of these products was not in accordance with the acceptable therapeutic use of these products," he said.

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AdvertisementThe pharmacists include a 69-year-old woman from a Waterloo pharmacy; a 68-year-old man from a Beecroft pharmacy; a 61-year-old man from a Ryde pharmacy; and a 32-year-old woman from an Epping pharmacy.

Police will be referring each of them to the NSW Pharmacy Board for further action.

All will appear at Parramatta Local Court on July 7.

Other pharmacists are likely to be caught breaching regulations in relation to cold and flu tablets, police said.

AAP reports: NSW Police Minister Carl Scully said the pharmacists faced maximum $1,100 fines and possible deregistration if found guilty.

Mr Scully said the prosecutions sent a warning to others in the industry.

"If you are selling more than one or two packets of cold or flu tablets to a customer you are likely to be monitored by police and you're likely to be prosecuted with the risk that you'll be deregistered as a pharmacist," he said.

[injuryupdate]

There was an article this week in SMH suggesting scientific research that cocktailing pseudoephidrine and caffeine increased the stimulant potentcy of both.

[Syd Uni sports clinic]

Looks like it will get harder for football players to buy the stuff anyway. My prediction in that WADA will ban pseudoephedrine in 2007.

From AAP (6/4/06):

POLICE will soon receive automatic text messages alerting them to the name and location of would-be drug runners stocking up on cold and flu tablets at pharmacies.

Under a new online program, each time customers want to buy medication containing pseudoephedrine, they will have to show pharmacists photo identification, such as a driver's licence.
Using new technology, their details will then be stored on an online recording system.

If customers try to buy multiple packets of cold and flu drugs within a short period of time, pharmacists will be warned to block the sale.

Drug squad detectives will then receive the customers' details.

Launching the nationwide rollout of the program, Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Kos Sclavos said it would go some way in stopping "pseudo runners" from misusing medicine to make methamphetamines or speed.

"The Pharmacy Guild is determined that we will stamp out this problem in the community," Mr Sclavos said.
"We want to stamp out the use of pharmacies as sourcing the number one scourge in our community and young Australians who are falling prey to speed."

After a successful trial in Queensland, he was confident Project Stop would be effective.

Ms Sclavos believes it will only be a matter of time before the federal government makes the system mandatory for all pharmacies.

"What this system will do is remove those people from the sale because they'll be better tracked," Mr Sclavos said.

"It will allow pharmacists and pharmacists' staff to sell with certainty, ensuring that people who do have cold and flu or sinus symptoms can purchase these products."

Making cold and flu tablets only available by prescription was not the answer, he said.

"If this product had become prescription only, it would have added about $2 billion to the MBS (Medicare Benefits Schedule) bill per year," Mr Sclavos said.

"We've had the difficult situation where up to 15 per cent of pharmacies no longer stock pseudoephedrine based products and that was disadvantaging innocent consumers.

"Now those pharmacies can return those products to the shelf, sell them with confidence."

He said the new system would only alert police to high-level purchases of cold and flu drugs, meaning genuine customers would be protected.

The federal government will provide $380,000 in funding to the new program over two years.

Justice Minister Chris Ellison said the program was a world first in tracking sales of pseudoephedrine.

[blindside]

yeh i used to take 5 before a game.
3 before we warmed up and 2 as we ran out. everyone was doing it in the late 90's.....
some have moved on to plain ephedrine tabs now....
BSIDE