What People Are Doing Wrong This Week: Gas Station Male Enhancement Pills
I’m sure you’ve seen the “male enhancement” displays at your local gas station, liquor store, or drug treatment center. With names like “Rhino Power 4000,” “Black Mamba,” or “X Rated Honey,” these “herbal” or “all-natural” supplements promise to “increase your stamina,” “give you incredible power,” and “add inches.” The packaging may not say so directly, but the overall message is clear: These pills treat erectile dysfunction.
If you’re like me, you’ve seen these pills and thought, “They’ll never work.” Well, my skeptical friend, this week we ’re wrong. Erectile dysfunction pills often work exactly as expected, but it’s not that herbal ingredients like ginseng and yohimbe bark are miracle cures for erectile dysfunction. It’s that many of these pills are, in fact, mislabeled as “Viagra” or “Cialis.” It’s true: The FDA has found all sorts of prescription drugs in hundreds of different dubious “supplements,” but you can still buy them. You shouldn’t, but you can.
How a rack of unlicensed prescription pills came to be readily available at your local 7-Eleven is a complicated story. Most of these “supplements” are manufactured in factories overseas, especially in China and India, where pharmaceutical manufacturing is cheaper and less strictly regulated. From there, they are distributed as “dietary supplements.”
Unlike prescription and over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements do not have to be tested by the Food and Drug Administration before being sold, so anyone looking to make a quick buck can fill a few capsules with dried herbs, call it a supplement, and start selling them.
FDA and Whack-A-Mole Supplements
Of course, it’s illegal to hide the active ingredients of Viagra and Cialis in a so-called dietary supplement, but the FDA doesn’t have the authority to enforce the drug until it ‘s sold. If someone gets sick or complains, the feds can step in, but not before.
To its credit, the FDA often steps in. The agency maintains a constantly updated database of problematic “ Sexual Enhancement and Energy Products,” where you can learn all about the banned ingredients in supplements like Green Lumber (which contains tadalafil, the active ingredient in Cialis), HimGo (which contains sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, and diclofenac, an over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drug), and Versace Real Honey (sildenafil, tadalafil, and acetaminophen). The FDA even occasionally prosecutes people for selling these drugs, like Jacksonville “business executive” Jay Hong Kim, who recently pleaded guilty to selling prescription drugs called Rhino 69 and MegaZen Power 5000.
But Kim’s story is the exception, not the rule. The FDA may pull Mega-Mamba Mojo pills from the market, but within weeks your local gas station will be selling Lightning Lad Libido pills instead, probably from the same shell company but now under a different name. These pills can be made for pennies and sold for up to $20 a pop, so the risk/reward ratio for those selling them is quite reasonable.
Why you shouldn’t buy male potency enhancement products at gas stations
Don’t take gas station erection pills. First of all, you don’t need any enhancements ; you’re already beautiful, king. But if you’re treating erectile dysfunction, there are better options than dubious supplements. Taking weird gas station pills is a bad idea for a number of reasons, including:
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Unknown dosage : Even if you know it’s sildenafil, you have no idea how much you’re taking, and it’s usually just “crap.” FDA tests of these products have found prescription drug dosages that are significantly higher than what a doctor would prescribe, often resulting in severe headaches, low blood pressure, dizziness, vision changes, or even heart problems.
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Dangerous Interactions : If you take heart medications, blood pressure medications, or nitrates, erectile dysfunction medications are generally unsafe. In fact, if you take any other medications, they are generally unsafe because they could contain literally any drug.
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Randomness: The lack of honest labeling means you may get Ginkgo Biloba when you’re hoping for Viagra, and vice versa.
Instead of trusting the counter clerk at your local drug treatment center, talk to your doctor. They’ve heard about this, and the prices for real erectile dysfunction drugs are usually lower than at the gas station. Generic sildenafil (Viagra) costs $2 to $10 a pill, and generic tadalafil (Cialis) costs $6 to $18, while a dose at the gas station can cost up to $20.
Why are they still selling?
So these pills are dangerous, expensive, and questionable, and the FDA keeps warning us not to take them. Why are they still around ? First, because minimal oversight of dietary supplements has been enshrined in law since the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994. But also because these pills offer both an easy solution and a forbidden thrill. A combination of curiosity, desperation, and timidity make those shiny packages by the soda machine an irresistible impulse buy for some, especially those too shy to discuss medical issues with their doctors. So they keep selling, because impulse, embarrassment, and lax regulation collide, resulting in a product that’s as easy to get as it is risky to take.