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by pardoned_turkey 901 days ago
Well, on the flip side: the whole reason these are sold is that the FDA is preventing the substance from being sold OTC. This is not an example of a manufacturer putting something unwanted in the product. It's all just a wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of a deal with willing buyers. It creates some risk of accidents, but I doubt there were any.

I'm not sure the regulation here is great. As with Rx-only contraception, these regulations force patients to spend money and discuss their intimate life with a doctor for no real reason, which many people find difficult. And it's not like you undergo thorough screening to get Viagra anyway. A doctor is not gonna say "no".

The problem with bodies such as the FDA is that once they address grave risks, they seldom reach this point of "OK, we fixed the problem of arsenic in patent medicine, so let's scale back for now." Instead, the bureaucracies only grow. Today, far too many drugs are Rx-only and stay this way for too long. The need for prescriptions for equipment such as eyeglasses or contact lenses is hard to justify too.
2 comments
lwhi 901 days ago
It's the job of a regulatory body to reduce risk.

If wrongly prescribed equipment can cause harm, it's very justifiable that a license scheme is put in place.

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bjt 901 days ago
> It's the job of a regulatory body to reduce risk.

Sure, and the parent comment's point was that there's a line where further risk reduction doesn't make sense anymore. The agency doesn't have the right incentives to stop at that line.

Plenty of very significant risks aren't regulated to the degree that Viagra and Cialis are. You don't need a note from a doctor or a govt-issued permit to buy kitchen knives or a table saw or a Bic lighter, for example.

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lwhi 901 days ago
Kitchen knives have multiple uses and discretion through education is expected as standard.

Viagra and Cialis have a singular use and contraindications aren't likely to be understood through cultural osmosis.

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tacocataco 901 days ago
I'd say step 1 would be respecting the bodily autonomy of citizens to put what drugs they want into their own body.

Given the bipartisan war on drugs, I think we are a long ways off.

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