Over-the-counter - Definition and Overview

See separate articles for over-the-counter trading and the medical condition Ornithine Transcarbamylase Deficiency.

Over-the-counter drugs (OTC) or other medical remedies may be sold without a prescription and without a visit to a medical professional. One of the oldest OTC drugs is aspirin. Sometimes some OTC drugs are further restricted to require prescriptions. Cocaine and various opiates, for instance, were once sold freely OTC, but now are highly restricted. On the other hand, diphenhydramine hydrochloride (Benadryl, for instance) once required a prescription, but now is available OTC.

Other over-the-counter drugs are sold, but not marketed as drugs. Morning glory seeds are sold for their gardening purposes, but can be used recreationally as a hallucinogenic drug due to the LSA it contains. Nutmeg has also been used to some extent as a hallucinogenic drug, but is considered undesirable to most recreational drug users.

Chemicals

Over-the-counter chemicals may be sold without much suspicion. Many chemicals are becoming harder to get due to underground drug and explosives laboratories. Underground chemists have become exceedingly efficient in extracting essential chemicals from very ordinary items, and using very ordinary items to yield illicit chemicals:

• Ephedrine from cough medicine for methamphetamine or methcathinone
• piperidine from pepper for PCP
• safrole from sassafras oil for MDMA
• myristicin from nutmeg oil for MMDA
• benzaldehyde from bitter almond oil for amphetamines
• cinnamaldehyde from cinnamon for allybenzene for phenylacetone for methamphetamine
• Sulfuric acid from Drain Cleaner or Car Batteries

• Acetone and Hydrogen peroxide for Acetone peroxide
• Glycerin and Nitric acid for Nitroglycerin

See also

• dextromethorphan