over the counter drugs

mikelowrey · Post by **mikelowrey** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:17 am

Okay! Quick question for you guys, does any one know what the deal is with oxycodone in Finland ? Is it even legal? Is this an over the counter affair or will I need to go to the hospital to get this sorted out. I'm currently being pescribed 800mg of burana. Does nothing for me ...any one got any idea of the existance of percocet..codeine...vicodin ...or Diazepam (valium) in this country ? Also what is the deal with sleeping pills

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onkko · Post by **onkko** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:32 am

Drugs(in finnish meaning), good luck to getting recipe. Yes you need recipe for all those like you needed recipe for 800mg burana. My cough medicine had codein in it so it was recipe stuff.
Sleeping pills i had were under recipe and those were mild so id say you need recipe for those too.
You need to see doctor.

mikelowrey · Post by **mikelowrey** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:53 am

hmm interesting ...burana ..does that have oxycodone in it ? If so ..it must be very different to what I pick up back in Australia

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:01 am

Wikipedia: http://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oksikodoni

Suomessa oksikodonia myydään ainakin valmistenimillä Oxanest, Oxycontin ja Oxynorm.

I'd take it for granted that you need that piece of paper from a doctor to get one of those.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:17 am

onkko wrote:recipe.

a prescription is for getting medicine

a recipe is for making chocolate cake

...one of those Finnish (or Finnish-Swedish) "false friends" I hear nearly every day of the week!

Unless you are suggesting he makes his own painkillers....

joanmanuel · Post by **joanmanuel** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:40 am

yep, that is one of thing that I do not like at all, anything that you can get from the Drugstores in Helsinki are only mild medicines, for anything else better go to the doctor (a private practice is the best, if not you are going to get stuck like six months)

Jukka Aho · Post by **Jukka Aho** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:01 pm

penelope wrote:
onkko wrote:recipe.
a prescription is for getting medicine
a recipe is for making chocolate cake
...one of those Finnish (or Finnish-Swedish) "false friends" I hear nearly every day of the week!

You’re correct, of course, but...

“Word Origin & History

recipe
1584, "medical prescription," from M.Fr. récipé, from L. recipe "take!," imperative of recipere "to take" (see receive); word written by physicians at the head of prescriptions. Meaning "instructions for preparing food" first recorded 1743. The original sense survives only in the pharmacist's abbreviation Rx.” (Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper)

penelope wrote:Unless you are suggesting he makes his own painkillers.... :?

As far as I know, the original “recipes” (prescriptions) actually were instructions on how the pills/mixture should be prepared and what the ingredients and their amounts are... not for the patient but for the pharmacist.

Mook · Post by **Mook** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:18 pm

I've had prescriptions for Panacod, which is paracetamol and codeine so I guess that's reasonably easy to get. And, you can buyup to 30, or so, Ibufrofen 400mg over the counter. Anything else make me think of Doctor House...

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:19 pm

tummansininen wrote:No Mike, ibuprofen (Burana, Ibumax) is not restricted, you can get that over the counter from a pharmacy without a prescription.

It is as TS says, available over the counter, but damned expensive.

We usually stock up on supermarket or Boots own brand painkillers when back in the UK, the prices here for painkillers are 8-10x the UK own brand prices.

If you use Strepsils, stock up on them too, they are over double the price here. Same goes for multivitamins ... I occasionally take a multivitamin + iron; depends which brands you buy but the prices here can be anywhere from 3-10x the UK price.

Rosamunda · Post by **Rosamunda** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:46 pm

Me too, but even in Boots they restrict the amount you can buy in one go. ANd these days the BIG packs of painkillers are not even on the shelves. You have to collect them from the pharmacist over the counter, who is supposed to ask you what you want them for. Even the antihistamine bumper packs are "for display purposes only".

Upphew · Post by **Upphew** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 12:55 pm

tummansininen wrote:I for one am glad kids can't wander into a pharmacy and grab a few packets.

No Mike, ibuprofen (Burana, Ibumax) is not restricted, you can get that over the counter from a pharmacy without a prescription.

As mook said: you can get one (1) packet without a hassle, for larger amounts you must see doctor.

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:14 pm

penelope wrote:Me too, but even in Boots they restrict the amount you can buy in one go. ANd these days the BIG packs of painkillers are not even on the shelves. You have to collect them from the pharmacist over the counter, who is supposed to ask you what you want them for. Even the antihistamine bumper packs are "for display purposes only".

Generally you can only have two packs of each kind of painkiller at least we were in London in the summer, went into Boots twice and on each occasion bought 2 packs of Ibuprofen, 2 of aspirin and 2 of paracetamol ... no problemo.

Some supermarkets though, it was probably a Tesco will only sell two packs of painkillers in total to one customer ... it's happened to me a couple of times, in which case I've handed off a couple of packs to the missus to buy separately.

mikelowrey · Post by **mikelowrey** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:19 pm

what about estonia ? same story there ? (inrelation to codeine)

onkko · Post by **onkko** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:54 pm

mikelowrey wrote:what about estonia ? same story there ? (inrelation to codeine)

The Criminal Code of Finland wrote:Chapter 50 - Narcotics offences (1304/1993)
Section 1 – Narcotics offence (374/2008)
A person who unlawfully
1) produces or attempts to produce a narcotic substance or cultivates or
attempts to cultivate a coca plant, khat (Catha edulis) or Psilosybe mushrooms,
2) cultivates or attempts to cultivate opium poppy, hemp or cactus plants
containing mescaline for use as a narcotic substance or the raw material for a
narcotic substance or for use in the production or manufacture of a narcotic
substance,
3) imports or attempts to import or exports or attempts to export a narcotic
substance, or transports it or has it transported or attempts to transport or
attempts to have it transported,
4) sells, supplies, conveys or otherwise distributes or attempts to distribute a
narcotic substance, or
5) possesses or attempts to obtain a narcotic substance,
shall be sentenced for a narcotics offence to a fine or to imprisonment for at most
two years.

List of narcotics in finnish http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2008/20080543

So you really need that prescription if you dont want to commit a crime.

Pursuivant · Post by **Pursuivant** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:13 pm

But Estonian doctors aren't allowed to write drugs to non-residents so easily any more.

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