Buying strepsils - over 25?!

[shivvy]

I bought a packet of strepsils in a sainsburys garage last week and was told by the checkout person that the till prompts a question to check that the person buying the strepsils is over 25.
(Unfortunately it is quite clear that I am over 25 and didnt need to produce ID!!)
However it made me wonder what is in strepsils that it needs this type of check but also, why 25? I could understand over 18 ie adult but 25 seems like quite a random age. Is a 24 year old really not allowed to buy strepsils?!

[Mr Veritas]

The active ingredient in Strepsils is Dextromethorphan,which can (in largish quantities) be hallucinogenic,which I am sure youngsters have discovered.
This is why Supermarkets(and possibly Pharmacies etc) have an age check on it.
I presume that they think anyone over 25 is adult enough NOT to be using Strepsils as a recreational type drug.

See here for more details of Dextromethorphan :~
http://en.wikipedia.o...e_of_dextromethorphan

[Buenchico]

I suspect that the checkout assistant was actually only prompted to check that you're an adult.

Sainsbury's policy for the sale of alcohol is that everyone who appears to be under 25 must be asked for ID to prove that they're at least 18 years old. (Other stores, such as the Cooperative, have a similar policy).

If they also have a policy of not selling medications to minors, their computer system will automatically flag up the same 'Challenge 25' notice to till operators.

Chris

[tamborine]

no wonder a client called me a 'pusher' when I 'gave him one' for a cough ;)

[mollykins]

I was allowed to buy ibuprofen the other week (aged 16) but the person did know i'm sixteen because my birthday is four days after her daughter, who also was working at the shop at the time.

I would think brufen is more dangerous than strepsils, so if anything the ages should be the other way round.

[shivvy]

Thanks for your thoughts.
It is strange though that paracetamol can be bought off a supermarket shelf and it really is lethal. I know that there is a restriction on the number of packs that you can buy in one transaction but I don't believe that there is an age restriction?

[hundreddolla]

You can buy bleach 'off the shelf' in a supermarket and if you drink too much "it really is lethal.