Oh, those crazy Dutch - they'll legalize practically anything. Walk into an Amsterdam coffee shop and you can get a hash brownie to go with your cafe Americano; go into a candy store and you'll probably find a jar of fentanyl lollipops next to the cash register. So it's no surprise that the Dutch Institute for Responsible Medicine Use is recommending that Viagra be made available over the counter. "Enough is now known about the side-effects of these medicines and the people they are suitable for or not," said Ruud Coolen, the Institute's director. "A visit to the doctor is no longer necessary. A pharmacist can judge it perfectly well."
Their rationale for making Viagra OTC is based on drug safety and health considerations. Viagra is a "shame pill", they say, and too many people resort to buying it from disreputable sources for the sake of anonymity. Those sketchy pills are often substandard and may be tainted with dangerous ingredients.
Fair enough, but how many guys do you think are actually going to go to Walgreen's (or the Dutch equivalent) and take the walk of shame down aisle 9 to the checkout?
