eli5: Why do drugs that don’t seem very likely to be abused or are unlikely to produce a “high” for example drugs for diseases, require a prescription?
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Usually because they are dangerous when used incorrectly. Antibiotics make bacteria immune if underdosed. Many drugs cause severe damage when taken too much or too long.
Imagine all the people who’d avoid going to the doctor and just take some random internet forum for medical advice and then accidentially kill themselves with a prescription drug
Because almost all medications/drugs have contraindications and the potential to interact with other substances. Also potential harm from overuse or overdose.
Each country has a body that reviews these and makes a decision on if it can be safely sold to the public without a prescription (over the counter) or needs pharmacist or physician level knowledge of its use to dispense/prescribe. This is why there are some things you can buy without a prescription in some countries, but not it others (e.g. some antibiotics are available without a prescription in some places, but you need a prescription for them in the UK).
* Because some drugs interact with lots of other drugs.
* Because some drugs require specific doses for a given individual
* Because some drugs need a specific duration or method of administration.
Let’s say Medicine A is a bad culprit for interactions (“making other drugs do different/bad stuff”). The regulators make Medicine A require a prescription, not so that you don’t abuse it, but so that you have to talk to a doctor who then has a chance to say “whoa, you’re on Medicine B? Don’t take medicine A for that problem you’re having, that will cause seizures (or whatever), better try this other thing instead”.
Without that knowledge, imagine if Medicine A and B were both just sold at the drug store. You’d look at the box, find the first one that says “for the problem you’re having” and possibly kill or injure yourself because regular people have no clue about things like possible drug interactions.
Also many people like to diagnose themselves on the internet and imagine all the problems if they could just get everything without a prescription.
Pre- before
Scribe-written
Doctors usually are aware of what goes in drugs, if not they do learn what that drug does and what effects and side effects it may have.
They prescribe it because it might have unwanted reaction with your preexisting condition , diet, undiagnosed conditions or simply it may create bad reaction if taken along with other drugs.
They just want to make sure that, the drug is used the way it is meant to be used and nothing else.
For example there is B complex generic capsule and prescription needed- expensive capsule with many things + b complex. Some idiot seller might sell second one if its not marked Prescription only.
Usually, a prescription is required if the drug can easily hurt someone if taken improperly or unnecessarily.
For example, many antibiotics cause a variety of health problems if taken too often, and can result in resistant infection if taken improperly.
Pharmacologist here, abuse is only one of very many reasons that prescriptions are needed.
Sone drugs can cause other health conditions if not taken properly, such as NSAIDs like Naproxen and Ibuprofen which can cause stomach ulcers and may require extra advice or another medication to be prescribed along side them. You can get the weaker drugs or ones less likely to cause problems over the counter quite often but stronger drugs or ones more likely to cause problems will often be prescription only.
There are some drugs which require severe monitoring to ensure they don’t cause health problems and require important lifestyle changes to be made. One good example is an anticoagulant called warfarin which can cause problems based on the amount of chocolate or alcohol you consume, can be affected by most other medicines you might take, and constantly have to be monitored to find the right dose for you. This can change extremely often based on your health.
Also, incorrect use of antibiotics can create drug resistant strains of the bacteria that they fight against. There are already many strains of drug-resistant bacteria that exist solely because of people taking antibiotics incorrectly. Its extremely important that you don’t take antibiotics unless you definitely have a bacterial infection (not a fungal or viral one), that you take the correct kind for the type of infection that you have, and that you continue to take the medicine for as long as the doctor has said, even if you feel better! This is to make sure that the bacteria is definitely killed entirely, and that there aren’t some super strong bacteria waiting to come back and make the infection worse again. This can be difficult for people in developing countries or in poor socio-economic situations who might try to save some of their antibiotics incase their child gets sick again in future and they don’t have the money to get more.
There are many more reasons that prescriptions are required but most of them come down to the fact that the patient might not know what is best for them (or everyone else) and they need professional guidance to make sure they do the right thing.
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