In south east Asia, pharmacies are a much bigger business than I ever remember them being in the west.  Back in my home country, the only time I would ever go to a pharmacy would be if I had something strong that was prescribed to me by a doctor.  If that wasn't the case, I would just get over-the-counter stuff from a supermarket.   

Now I don't know if there is some sort of regulatory rule here in Vietnam that makes this something that you are not allowed to sell at supermarkets but I suppose it could be.   I don't know because there are so many pharmacies all over the place that I have never bothered to look for these products at minimarts and grocery stores.  

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In Vietnam, almost everyone gets anything they might need for medicinal purposes from a pharmacy and in many cases the pharmacist themselves serve as the person diagnosing what tablets or liquids might actually help you.  One of my friends actually had his blood pressure checked by the woman who worked there and as it turns out she was actually a physician previously but found the work too stressful and decided she would rather have a pharmacy.   The process of opening one must be relatively simplistic because seriously, these shops are on every street in every city I have ever been to in this country.   

I encountered a very strange situation the other day when I was in my local pharmacy that I found rather amusing.  

I asked for a type of decongestant that was extremely common in my youth.  Everyone had it in their homes and there was a very good reason for this:  because it friggin works.  

The name brand is Sudafed as well as others but the active ingredient is apparently something that you cannot get at all in Vietnam called pseudoephedrine.  

When I asked for this product the pharmacist kind of berated me for even asking for it because it is illegal.  I am standing in front of her as someone that clearly has a bad sinus issue at the time and she reacted as if I was asking for crack-cocaine.   

Now I have seen enough episodes of "Breaking Bad" to know that some sinus tablets, and this might be the one that they were referring to in the show, that are broken down and turned into crystal meth and if that is the case then I guess I kind of understand their absence in the store in great volumes.   I do find it a bit strange that they don't have it at all and react the way that they do if you even ask for it.

To make matters more amusing to me, there was a sign at the counter that I didn't take a picture of because I didn't want to make the otherwise very friendly woman nervous but it was a sign that was advertising in English, the various drugs that they do have available for anyone that wants to buy them.   Here is a partial list of things that were on the advertisement.

* Vicodin
* Ambien 
* Valium 
* Tramadol 
* Ritalin 
* Xanax 

So let me get this straight:  I can buy an extremely addictive Hydrocodone opioid over the counter in any dosage that I want without any problems despite not having a prescription at all but if I want to get rid of my nagging head cold access is denied.

I can get Xanax, which a lot of people in the world are addicted to and really struggle to get off of, but head cold medicine?  Forgetaboutit!  

I knew friends in college that used to crush up Ritalin and snort it because (according to them) it has a similar effect to cocaine and if I wanted to do that I would have no issue at all obtaining it but if I want to stop sneezing I am just screwed.   

Valium and Ambien have legitimate purposes but for the most part the people I know that take these things soon become incapable of achieving slumber without them.   This is just fine though and you can buy as much of it as you want to.   

They do have options for head colds but of course, none of them work at all.   I went back to the pharmacy asking for "something stronger" and all they did was give me the same medication but in a higher dosage... as if I hadn't already tried taking two of the smaller tabs.   

For the most part I like the way that this country operates but I'm sorry, this banning of Sudafed, especially if you are only going to get say, 10 of them at a time, is completely ridiculous.