Availability of schedule 3 preparations from community pharmacies.

A survey was conducted to determine the ease with which commonly misused schedule 3 (S3) preparations could be purchased from 29 randomly selected pharmacies. The proprietary formulations chosen for study were Phensedyl linctus, Avil tablets and Ponderax tablets. The regulations governing the sale of S3 preparations in South Australia state that they must be sold under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist, but, in the majority of cases, this did not occur. In a follow-up study where pharmacists were questioned on their knowledge of the regulations, all indicated that they were aware of the details of the regulations and complied with them.