| Effective, January 1, 2004, member of the general public will be prohibited from selling or distributing dietary supplement products containing ephedrine group alkaloids, except for use as prescribed by licensed health care practitioners. The law allows manufacturers and distributors to continue to sell such products to licensed health care practitioners for prescribed use by patients. The law also allows the distribution of such products to pharmacists for the direct sale to patients to whom a prescription has been given. |
| This new law is an interesting experiment into new territory for Licensed Acupuncturists and other health care professionals who prescribe herbal products to their patients. Since over-the-counter (OTC) medications containing ephedrine alkaloiads will continue to be availabe directly to the public, the likely outcome of this new limitation is the increased marketing of pharmaceutical products, such as Sudofed (containing pseudoephedrine) directly to the public, knowing that the public will have limited access to alternative ephedra products, unless they are prescribed by a licensed health care practitioners. |