Surgical Spirit ?

Delancey

I recently advised a friend of mine to use Surgical Spirit on a patch of carpet that a puppy had a house training accident on.
She went to Boots to get some and although they did supply her she was asked for I.D. and the details were entered in a 'register' of some sort.

Is this normal ? Why would such measures be taken regarding the supply of something as innocent as Surgical Spirit?

deepimpact

You sure it wasn't methylated spirits? A licence is needed to supply it, and a record of all incoming and outgoing transactions is maintained.

Delancey

scanlant wrote: »

You sure it wasn't methylated spirits? A licence is needed to supply it, and a record of all incoming and outgoing transactions is maintained.

No , it definitley was Surgical Spirit but perhaps the staff member did not differentiate ?

deepimpact

It's a Boots oddity so. There's no register for surgical spirits, so maybe the assistant got the two mixed up.

bleg

Just go to a normal pharmacy.

Delancey

scanlant wrote: »

It's a Boots oddity so. There's no register for surgical spirits, so maybe the assisstant got the two mixed up.

I would guess that is the most likely explanation.

BTW why the restrictions on Meths ? I'm not aware of it being poisonous ?

Kurtosis

delancey42 wrote: »

I would guess that is the most likely explanation.

BTW why the restrictions on Meths ? I'm not aware of it being poisonous ?

It's more to do with Customs and Excise as far as I know!

Delancey

penguin88 wrote: »

It's more to do with Customs and Excise as far as I know!

I'm sure we've all heard the srories of wino's drinking Meths - I didn't believe them until now !
Thanks for the replies

locum-motion

delancey42 wrote: »

I would guess that is the most likely explanation.

BTW why the restrictions on Meths ? I'm not aware of it being poisonous ?

It's very poisonous if consumed in sufficient quantities or in smaller quantities over a prolonged period.

Odysseus

I was actually ask similar a few years back for nicorette, my named changed to Robert Sands that day. Do they still call it the posion book?

Delancey

Odysseus wrote: »

I was actually ask similar a few years back for nicorette, my named changed to Robert Sands that day. Do they still call it the posion book?

Jesus , what's next - name and address to buy condoms ?

locum-motion

Odysseus wrote: »

I was actually ask similar a few years back for nicorette, my named changed to Robert Sands that day. Do they still call it the posion book?

Actually, the nicorette book and the meths book are two different books.

A licensed Methylated Spirits retailer has to record sales of Meths in the Methylated Spirits register, and as has been said, it's more to do with Customs & Excise than anything else.

Nicotine is (or at least was) legally classed as a poison, so sales had to be recorded in the Poisons Register. That said, virtually no pharmacies record Nicotine sales anymore. I think that they exempted Nicorette etc from that part of the regulations a few years ago.

And speaking of poisons:

A woman goes into a pharmacy and asks for a vial of Cyanide. The pharmacist, trying to remain professional, asked what she wants it for.
She answered, "I want to kill my husband."

"I'm sorry, Madam," the pharmacist replied, "but you will have to understand that under such circumstances I can't sell you any Cyanide."

The woman reaches into her handbag, pulls out a photo of her husband in a compromising embrace with the pharmacist's wife. The pharmacist blushes and replies, "I am sorry, Madam, I didn't realize you had a prescription."

Odysseus

locum-motion wrote: »

Actually, the nicorette book and the meths book are two different books.

A licensed Methylated Spirits retailer has to record sales of Meths in the Methylated Spirits register, and as has been said, it's more to do with Customs & Excise than anything else.

Nicotine is (or at least was) legally classed as a poison, so sales had to be recorded in the Poisons Register. That said, virtually no pharmacies record Nicotine sales anymore. I think that they exempted Nicorette etc from that part of the regulations a few years ago.

And speaking of poisons:

A woman goes into a pharmacy and asks for a vial of Cyanide. The pharmacist, trying to remain professional, asked what she wants it for.
She answered, "I want to kill my husband."

"I'm sorry, Madam," the pharmacist replied, "but you will have to understand that under such circumstances I can't sell you any Cyanide."

The woman reaches into her handbag, pulls out a photo of her husband in a compromising embrace with the pharmacist's wife. The pharmacist blushes and replies, "I am sorry, Madam, I didn't realize you had a prescription."

Good one. I only experienced it in that pharmarcy. It would be the local one where I grew up. As you know I'm not a pharmacist, but due to work I know a bit about it, and a few mates are. They really are a strange bunch in that place, I had to get CD's a lot of times over the years out of there, such as when my dad had cancer and my mother was on a lot of meds during a 18mth wait for a hip.

They way I was treated, really viewed with suspicion, lots of very strange looks and lots of whispering between staff with a shy glance. Even from talking to the lads at work they agreed they where a tad over the top. Even if it was real concern, the quality of advice about the nature of the meds was very poor.

Odysseus

Back on topic, I spend a bit of time each year in the south of Spain where my mate buys a few months of his POM meds OTC each time he is over as it's much cheaper. An interesting system, but my point here is in the shops you see varying strenghts of surgical spirit on the bottom shevle in the super markets, it does raise a question about the Irish psyche, why do we feel the need to control peoples access to stuff like this? And about the way people may abuse these items? I would not be aware of any problems with it over there, though that does not mean they don't exist of course.

Delancey

Odysseus wrote: »

Back on topic, I spend a bit of time each year in the south of Spain where my mate buys a few months of his POM meds OTC each time he is over as it's much cheaper. An interesting system, but my point here is in the shops you see varying strenghts of surgical spirit on the bottom shevle in the super markets, it does raise a question about the Irish psyche, why do we feel the need to control peoples access to stuff like this? And about the way people may abuse these items? I would not be aware of any problems with it over there, though that does not mean they don't exist of course.

Did you not know that this is the biggest 'Nanny State' in Europe - just look at Mary Harneys latest idea : to ban sunbeds . I for one am sick of it.

Odysseus

delancey42 wrote: »

Did you not know that this is the biggest 'Nanny State' in Europe - just look at Mary Harneys latest idea : to ban sunbeds . I for one am sick of it.

I'm a hunter and shooter in my spare time, I'm fully aware of our need to to control everything:rolleyes: The rolleyes are for the State not yourself;) We do seem to try control anything where they may be a risk to another person, the State taking over our personal responsibility or other agencies, look at the threads about the new codeine rules, I treat people who become addicted to OTC products like that, but I have issues with the new system.

The same can be said of our road use, it as if we think we can get to a place where no fatal RTC's will occur, I'm not saying we should not be safety aware, but we will always have road fatalities, the same way if you prevent someone from using one substance, they will in most cases switch to another which may have even more negative effects.

Hope I'm not going too off topic with my opinions

x in the city

Im after getting some in the wilton in cork and had to basically give every last detail to the lady for her book..