A drug addict can purchase Modafen with an ID on hand; there are no restrictions holding the drug user back, according to the National Anti-Drug Centre.
Although the Czech Republic implemented a regulation in May, making it impossible to buy over-the-counter flu and cold medication containing pseudoephedrine freely, the number of drug kitchens hasn’t dropped much.
Hail Slovakia
“Between January and the end of August police officers uncovered 221 pervitin cooking facilities. For one, drug users stacked up on medications prior to the law’s implementation; others manage with just buying the permitted amount,” Jakub Frydrych of the National Anti-Drug Center confirmed.
And others travel abroad for medications. “Poland, Germany and Slovakia dominate. Lately, we have also observed imports from other EU states including Italy and France,” Frydrych added.
The Czech Republic is, in fact, one of the most prominent pervitin producers in the EU. According to Frydrych, the May restriction, which restricts the amount of medicaments containing pseudoephedrine that can be purchased at one time, doesn’t suffice.
60 pills is more than enough
“The 60-pill limit a month doesn’t work either. It’s too high a number for a patient’s self-medicating purposes,” Stanislav Havlíček, president of the Czech Pharmacists’ Chamber, noted. He says medications that could be misused for methamphetamine cooking should be prescription only.
He backed up his argument with statistics: In May, he says, more than 20,000 people bought medications with pseudoephedrine. “Almost all of them purchased the meds in maximum permitted amounts,” he said.
Neighbours are alarmed as well
But experts warned a while back that the law would not be effective.
“I don’t think that it will bring anything positive to the drug scene,” Josef Suchopár of Infopharm, for instance, said before the measure was implemented. Those who want the medications will get hold of them elsewhere where no such restriction are in place, he said.
His words came ringing true, in fact. Pervitin cooks began turning to Slovakia within half a year where they would purchase the required amount and bring it back to the Czech Republic.
“Western Slovakia is experiencing the largest demand. It’s chiefly distributors monitoring which pharmacy is ordering how many meds, who report on it,” Ján Valjan, president of the Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists, told the online news server Aktuálně.cz.
Consequently, the Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists began to monitor the situation together with the police.
A tonne of pills went into making pervitin last year
Czech lawmakers approved the law on addictive substances in April this year. Pharmacies have had to abide by it since May.
The regulation states that some medications which can be misused for the manufacture of drugs must be kept in check more strictly. If patients wish to use them, they’ll have to obtain a prescription or visit the pharmacy with their ID.
The monitored medicaments now include cold and flu remedies containing pseudoephedrine like Modafen, Nurofen stop grip, Panadol plus grip and Paralen plus. About a million packages of these are processed for drug cooking each year.
“If you were to accumulate the medicaments used for making pervitin last year, they’d weight about a tonne,” the president of the Czech Pharmacists’ Chamber Stanislav Havlíček estimated.
So, now, a patient may only purchase 60 pills a month.
