Suicide prevention awareness: what to know when selling paracetamol

In 2015, a national strategy, Connecting for Life, was launched by the government aimed at reducing suicide. One of its key goals is to limit access to medicines that are commonly used in intentional overdoses, such as paracetamol.

As a result, retailers must be especially careful when selling selling any product containing paracetamol. There are specific legal requirements to follow, and all staff must be aware of the restrictions.

What are the legal requirements for non-pharmacy retailers selling paracetamol

It is a legal requirement under the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply, Regulations 2003, S.I. 540 of 2003, as amended, for non-pharmacy retailers to only sell one pack of a medicine containing paracetamol per transaction.

Retailers should look out for customers trying to buy more than one pack of products containing paracetamol. This includes where a customer might try to buy two different brands of paracetamol medicines.

How to help your staff understand the restrictions when selling paracetamol

  • Be clear that only one pack of a medicine containing paracetamol may be sold to a customer per transaction.
  • Emphasise to your staff that this restriction may help save lives.
  • Use signage to remind staff of this restriction.
  • Remind them that it is not ok to to bypass the requirement by selling another packet to a single customer by doing a second, separate transaction.
  • Make them aware that some customers may attempt to purchase different brands of medicines containing paracetamol to get around this restriction.

Tips for how to make your retail outlet compliant with the legal requirements

  1. Identify all products with paracetamol and put restrictions in place so that only one pack can be sold per transaction.
  2. Have an alert on the till to signal to staff that the product scanned contains paracetamol.
  3. Set up a 'block' at the tills that will not allow two packs of medicines containing paracetamol to be scanned/sold in one transaction.

How these requirements are checked

We carry out spot checks across Ireland to monitor compliance with these legal requirements. Failure to comply with this or other legal requirements relating to medicines may result in prosecution.