Ban on grocers selling pseudoephedrine overturned

Ontario residents will once again be able to get cold and allergy medicine containing pseudoephedrine from local grocery and corner stores.

A controversial decision to make products containing the compound available only through a pharmacy was overturned by the Ontario Superior Court on Thursday.

The original decision was made last year to address concerns raised by the Ontario College of Pharmacists that medications containing pseudoephedrine were being used to make crystal meth.

The ruling made all medication with the ingredient only available in pharmacies and banned all other retail locations from selling it.

After a year-long court battle the verdict was overturned, and grocers are again allowed to stock the remedies.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers, who challenged the original verdict, hailed the new ruling as a victory for rural store owners and consumers.

"This far-reaching decision is...a win for small-town rural Ontario to continue to have access to common over the counter drugs," said Gary Sands, Vice-President of CFIG.

"Hopefully the Ontario College of Pharmacists has learned a...lesson as to the limits of its authority to try to make changes to Ontario laws affecting the people of this province."

Sands also said that meth production in the province didn't decline the year that the law was in effect.

"The decision did nothing to curtail the use of crystal meth--in fact, since this decision was put in place, crystal meth labs in Ontario doubled."