According to the law, shops are currently permitted to sell up to 100 paracetamol tablets per transaction. Gov UK have created a best practice guideline that encourages shops to sell no more than 2 packs (32 tablets) per transaction, but this has not yet been passed as a law. This guideline also discourages shops from using promotions or offers in relation to paracetamol amongst other painkillers, but again this has not been passed as law so shops can therefore choose to go against this. 

I have a personal history of mental illness and have lost some of my closest friends to overdose related deaths so this is a topic I feel very strongly about. By making it the law that shops cannot sell more than two packs of painkillers per transaction, this could greatly reduce the number of accidental and intentional overdoses and could potentially save lives. Many suicide attempts are fueled by impulsivity, so if it is impossible to buy a lethal amount of tablets from any one shop then this level of impulsivity may reduce just enough to prevent a potentially fatal situation.

My strong views on this situation come from years of personal experience. If this law was already in place then my loved ones would still be alive and I wouldn’t have the long term physical and mental trauma that I now suffer from. 

Many of my local shops allow sales of more than two packs of paracetamol per transaction and are even using offers and promotions to encourage people to buy more than two packs in one go. This is all discouraged by Gov UK but is still very much legal so many shops are ignoring these guidelines. If something like this could be the difference between life and death then it is appalling that the government is not enforcing these guidelines from a legal standpoint.

Please help me gain as many signatures as possible so that we can get this law amended to save lives. Thanks!