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New regulations that came into force in June 2009 prohibit the sales of some over-the-counter (OTC) drugs via the Internet,by telephone,or via catalogues.However,the appropriateness of this regulation is now being widely discussed from the viewpoints of safety and convenience.The purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of residents living on a remote island (island with 97 residents having pharmacies,drug stores,and licensed pharmacists) toward purchasing OTC drugs via the Internet.The results showed that approximately 80% of the respondents had purchased items other than OTC drugs via the Internet but none responded that they usually used the Internet for OTC drug purchases.Further,approximately 90% of them answered that they never felt that Internet OTC drug sales were a necessity.The results of the survey suggest that,compared with people living in urban areas,purchasing medicinal products via the Internet is disadvantageous for residents of a remote island in terms of the amount of time and money they have to spend to receive them.In view of this,a fact-finding survey on the purchase of OTC medicines by residents of remote islands where there are no pharmacies,drug stores,or licensed pharmacists needs to be conducted in order to establish an optimum system for supplying medicinal products to remote islands.

The objective of our study was to investigate the current status of the use of green leaf juice (GLJ ; made from kale,young barley leaf etc) among consumers and patients visiting drugstores,with regard to reasons for using GLJ,overall perception of safety and efficacy of GLJ,and the need for information on such dietary supplements.Between February and March 2006,a total of 563 consumers and patients visiting 68 drugstores owned by Tsuruha Inc.,in Hokkaido,Tohoku,and Kanto districts completed the questionnaire.The results showed that GLJ use was substantially higher among elderly people (65 years old and above) and people under long-term treatment with antihypertensives,antiallergics or antidiabetics.Though 33.2% of GLJ users thought it was effective,55% were uncertain about its effectiveness.Adverse events had been experienced by 2.4% of GLJ users.Other findings were that 55.5% of the respondents were taking GLJ daily and 27% had not read the precautions in the package insert.The present investigation showed that the major users of GLJ were elderly persons (of 65 years and above) who were taking medications.It is thus important for medical staff to routinely ask such patients if they are using any dietary supplements in order to collect evidence for their potential benefits or harm they could do,and to provide information on them in consideration of differences in literacy levels.