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Comment by tecleandor | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised that there is anybody still taking seriously "lie detectors". It's just stress provoking tricks.

About ibuprofen, here in Spain (and I think the whole Europe), it's BTC (no prescription) until 400mg. Over 400mg you need a prescription. And when it's pills/capsules, it's sold in pill sheets (is that the name?) individually sealed.

I think everything register as a medicine in Europe has to be BTC.

Of course, as you say, everything else is on the other side of the counter, so you could be poisoning bananas or chocolate.

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Which doesn’t make sense to me - no one is stopping you from taking two 400mg ibuprofen to make 800mg, etc.

I agree that 400mg is sensible dosage for one pill, but you buy a pill sheet of ten , you get 4000mg.

But what is the other solution just put everything being a prescription?

As for the lie detector test, in the USA it is federally required for sensitive jobs and roles - while it isn’t criminally admissible , denying one and having a bad PR team can spell public disaster but for sensitive top secret jobs, etc it is required 100%.

Most people will realise that taking 4 pills is probably too much, but people will take two without thinking much.

I think it's more of an anti-stupid thing.

Where I am, pharmacists will often talk to you about each first-time prescription, describing when and how often to take pills. You don't get that via non-prescription, so dosage control is a hacky fix for people that won't read labels.

It's also "smallest person" thing. If you're 2M tall and muscular (eg, more mass), your dose isn't the same as a 160cm person with little mass. The doses are for the smaller person, for safety.

Agree.

I suppose I should clarify that I am aware that the incident was from '82 and that LDTs are no longer admissible in many jurisdictions, and new legislation came in for tamper-proofing medicine which affected not just the US.

But regardless, argument being "things haven't moved on enough - lie detectors are still used in some places, people still misinterpret what they are, and our supply chain still only discourages, rather than prevents, mischief"

This was something that surprised me traveling in Spain a few years back - that I had to ask a pharmacist to buy paracetamol. This wasn't the case anywhere else I've been in Europe (Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden).

> it's sold in pill sheets (is that the name?)

They are often referred to as Blister Packs.

Thanks!

Blister pack is the term you are referencing

Thanks!

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