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Over-the-counter drugs (OTC) or other medical remedies may be sold without a prescription and without a visit to a medical professional. One of the oldest OTC drugs is aspirin. Sometimes some OTC drugs are further restricted to require prescriptions. Cocaine and various opiates, for instance, were once sold freely OTC, but now are highly restricted. On the other hand, diphenhydramine hydrochloride (Benadryl, for instance) once required a prescription, but now is available OTC. As a general rule, over-the-counter drugs have to be primarily used to treat a condition that does not require the direct supervision of a doctor, and must be proven to be reasonably safe and well-tolerated with little abuse potential, though some drugs such as dextromethorphan and (in some jurisdiction) codeine skirt the edges of the latter requirement. It is somewhat unusual for an OTC drug to be withdrawn from the market, though it has happened (phenylpropanolamine being one good example).
The name "over-the-counter" is somewhat confusing, since most OTC drugs are found on the shelves of stores and bought like any other packaged product.
Other over-the-counter drugs are sold, but not marketed as drugs. Morning glory seeds are sold for their gardening purposes, but can be used recreationally as a hallucinogenic drug due to the LSA it contains. Nutmeg has also been used to some extent as a hallucinogenic drug, but is considered undesirable to most recreational drug users.
Chemicals
Over-the-counter chemicals may be sold without much suspicion. Many chemicals are becoming harder to get due to regulations designed to thwart underground drug and explosives laboratories. Underground chemists have become exceedingly efficient in extracting essential chemicals from very ordinary items, and using very ordinary items to yield illicit chemicals:
Other uses
"Over the counter" can also be used as a way of describing public stock sales that do not go through recognized exchanges such as the NYSE or NASDAQ. Generally, however, OTC stocks are those of fringe companies with narrow or limited investment potential, and are often derided as penny stocks.
See also
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