Are doctors still handing out antibiotic prescriptions like candy?

Brilliant marketing. Brilliant.

Well that is nice of them.

[www.meijer.com]

Apparently its from October 2006.

@FatLynn: Those of us who had chronic tonsillitis as kids will appreciate it, though.

Amoxicillin

Cephalexin

SMZ-TMP

Ciprofloxacin

Ampicillin

Penicillin VK

Erythromycin

14-day supply at normal oral dosages only.

According to this page (under 'pharmacy' in pull-down menu), the average retail price for Amoxicillin 500mg (qty 30) is $13.90. Not sure what Meijer's cost is, but they probably have some sort of promotional deal worked out with a supplier.

The last two times I was prescribed antibiotics, I also got pain killers, which aren't free. To Meijer, it's worth the $4 (or whatever their cost is) to get you in the door. You'll probably come back again when you need something else.

They've been doing this for awhile now. The local news did a story on it when they announced it.

Is no one concerned about breeding hyper-resistant super-bacteria?

Great, we have doctors handing out antibiotics when they're totally unnecessary, antibiotic-resistant strains of bacterial infections are at an all-time high, now we have a chain store giving away antibiotics. Just what we need.

So neither of you use antibacterial hand soap then?

... just sayin'.

I guess it's important to note that it's only certain antibiotics. The hyper resistant strains start from a strain that is probably already resistant to Amoxicillin. I would be more concerned with dosage: doctors prescribe the correct dosage for someone with a certain body mass and condition of illness. What happens when someone takes not enough of an antibiotic (making it useless) or takes it sporadically (relating to hyper-resistant strains again) or worse, takes too much of it??? Can Meijer handle the liability?

@FLConsumer: Right on, plus you have to show your ID and live in the same county as the store to buy a Claritin so you don't look like a... uh... meth addict... when you go outside.