Pseudoephedrine Sale Limits and Logbook Failure
A 24-year-old man buys two boxes of a 96-count, 30-mg pseudoephedrine tablet product at 9:00 a.m. The logbook entry shows his driver's license and signature. At 4:00 p.m. he returns with two more boxes and says they are for his mother. The pharmacy's electronic logbook shows no entry for the second purchase because the cashier says the system was down. Your state has no stricter pseudoephedrine limit than federal law.
1. Calculate the federal limits and determine whether the 9:00 a.m. sale should have occurred.
Read the worked answer
Each box contains 96 x 30 mg = 2,880 mg, or 2.88 g. Two boxes equal 5.76 g, which exceeds the federal daily limit of 3.6 g. The 9:00 a.m. sale of two boxes should not have occurred. The 30-day limit is 9 g, and four boxes would be 11.52 g, which also exceeds that limit. The correct approach is to calculate grams of pseudoephedrine base per package, not to count boxes, and to stop the sale before it exceeds the daily limit.
2. What should you do about the 4:00 p.m. request?
Read the worked answer
Do not sell any additional pseudoephedrine that day. The patient has already purchased 5.76 g, which exceeds the 3.6 g daily limit, so no further same-day sale is permitted. Even one additional box would put the 30-day total at 8.64 g, which is under 9 g, but the daily limit independently bars the sale. The statement that the product is for his mother does not create an exception; the purchaser is the person whose identification and signature are recorded.
3. What logbook and compliance failures must be corrected?
Read the worked answer
A sale must be recorded in the logbook before the product is delivered, with the purchaser's name, address, date and time of sale, product and quantity, and signature, after verifying a photo ID. The electronic system being down does not excuse the record; use a written log and enter it later if permitted. The pharmacy must retain records for two years and ensure the purchaser is at least 18. The cashier needs retraining, and the pharmacy should self-audit prior pseudoephedrine sales for repeated over-limit purchases.