Buying drugs from the local chemist without a prescription has been illegal since 2015 in Spain and now the Department of Health has introduced a new system of verification with fines of between 30 and 90,000 euros for chemists who disobey the law.
If you go to your local chemist today you cannot buy the, formerly standard, pack of 40 tablets of 600 milligrams or a gramm of Paracetamol or Ibuprofen, along with a host of other antibiotics, antihistamines and a long etc. of medicines, without a prescription from your doctor.
It seems that the Law of Guarantees and Rational Use of Medicines 2015 put a brake on chemists selling these medicines without a prescription. But they carried on selling them and, seemingly, the Department of Health turned a blind eye.
However, in February of this year the Spanish System of Verification of Medicines (SEVEM) came into effect. This system, imposed by Europe, makes it much more difficult to ignore the law and those who do face fines of between 30 and 90,000 euros.
The law allows for the sale of packs of Paracetamol, for example, containing 10 tablets of less of one gram each without a prescription as opposed to the standard pack in Spain of tablets between 600 milligrams and one gram, which now require a prescription.
This also affects many of the medicines readers buy for their pets, for which your vet can write a prescription.
The aim of this regulation is to reduce self-medication and the consumption of drugs, particularly pain relief, taken regularly over long periods of time.
This does not mean medicines will cost more. In fact, if covered by a prescription, many will cost less.
However, in Calasparra at least, the smaller packs of pain relief were not available this week and chemists are advising customers to seek prescriptions.
