Akram G, Mason R, Millson D, Blenkinsopp A. Department of Medicines Management. Primary Care Sciences Research Centre, Keele University. On behalf of the North Staffordshire Research Consortium Introduction To establish the feasibility of conducting pharmacy based research in our locality, North Staffordshire Consortium Pharmacists decided to investigate the 'sleep aids'. Although safe in the short term, unregulated long term use can result in dependence or tolerance.
Larger quantities can induce hallucinations, drowsiness and other psychoactive effects.
The relative cheapness, wide availability and media advertising increase the vulnerability of sleep aids to misuse. Some pharmacists perceive sleep aids to be the most misused OTC product available. However, little is known about who actually uses these products and how they are used. A study was designed to establish feasibility of conducting pharmacy based research and to investigate the profile of OTC sleep medication users. Method Customers sold a sleep aid during the six week recruitment period from any of the consortium pharmacies were invited to participate.