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Comment by Marazan | Hacker News Reader

As annoying as it is (and I agree it is fantastically annoying) much to my surprise admissions for paracetamol overdose to UK hospitals absolutely plummeted after purchasing restrictions were introduced.

Score one for the nanny state.

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Not sure what "plummeted" quantifies to in this context, but the US saw meaningful reductions in overdose treatments and calls to the poison control line after changing the labeling rules and a public education campaign. The cited study was even conducted before the full labeling rules change came into effect.

Teach a man why not to over-fish fish vs giving him a smaller amount of fish... or something.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5676300/

The US doesn't have a significant problem with deliberate acetaminophen overdose as part of a suicide attempt, which is the problem the UK rules are meant to address.

Strictly speaking, if you wanted to solve intentional overdoses of acetaminophen, it appears that you could do it by presenting more appealing means of self-harm, like in the US. I'm pretty certain the availability of other lethal products (guns, really) directly correlates with whether OTC drug overdosing is a popular means of harm.

I'm willing to bet that handing out cyanide pills OTC would effectively eliminate intentional acetaminophen poisonings in the UK. Surprised the boffins at the NHS didn't think of it first if they really want to eliminate intentional overdoses! /s

There's some research to suggest if you make suicide a time consuming process some percentage of people who decide to do themselves in will reconsider while they're trying to carry out the act. I'm skeptical, but I understand the reasoning.

For those interested having done a brief literature search I've found a review article that paints the picture as much less clear than my categorical statement

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17536874/

denmark has same rule, for same purpose and effect

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