It certainly sounds like diazepam (Valium).  I have found similar
irregularities in Japanese supermarkets in Boston, whose patent
medicines sometime contain Rx-only drugs or even controlled substances
(I recall seeing a cough and cold tablet which contained
dihydrocodeine; I’ve never come across diazepam.)  Such OTC sale is
illegal, of course, but such imports tend not to attract the attention
of the FDA or DEA since their market tends to be a closed community.

–
Steve Dyer
d…@ursa-major.spdcc.com

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

In article <2ulfu9$…@panix.com>, JSG <j…@panix.com> wrote:

>I like to visit Chinese herbal stores in the United States and study the
>various things on display. I have many books on the subject and have
>found many interesting things.

>Recently, I made a fascinating discovery. Some stores are selling a drug
>in a small blue labelled bottle. I cannot read Chinese characters (I am
>American), but the English says "Taballae diazepami"  2.5 milligrams.

>The man in the store said that the instructions translated "For
>nervousness or sleeplessness, or aggravation, take one to 4 tablets three
>times a day." The pills sell for two dollars for one hundred.

>Could this be valium? It certainly seems like it. It is sold freely over
>the counter in mamy stores, alomg with all sorts of other herbal and oil
>conoctions. Does anyone know anything about this?

>I am obviously not going to tell where I found this medicine, or what
>store. This post is in no way to be construed as an offer to sell this or
>take any compensation to divulge it’s whereabouts.

>I am just curious if anyone knows anything about this thing, perhaps a
>Chinese medical student or someone with more knowledge of drugs.

>JSG

I’m not a student of pharmacy, but I lived for a year in Shanghai and,
yes, valium is widely available in Chinese pharmacies, both "western"
and, more interestingly, traditional. It seems to be one of the few
western drugs to have made it into the traditional pharmacopia.

I have a _bottle_, empty, begged from a friend in Shanghai for interest’s
sake. The first of the three characters in the medicine’s name is "An"
[= peace], as in Tian Am Men Square. I’m afraid I can’t read the remaining
two characters. Whether the bottle originally contained valium I can’t
tell for sure–I never sampled its contents, nor have I ever taken valium–
but it would certainly seem that it did. It, too, bears the marking
"tabellae diazepami," 2.5 [Chinese characters, presumably for mg.].

This might make valium second only to Mickey Mouse as an American cultural
incursion into the Chinese cultural meainstream.

–
David Neal Miller               s’vort nekome hot a zin
                                ven mit blut farshraybst em
Internet: mille…@osu.edu
Bitnet:   miller.3@ohstmail