Big players in manufacturing
There really only seem to be two. If there’s a reason they’re both primarily French I don’t know what it is.
Boiron
These appear to be the leader in marketing pretend medicine to Canadians; they’re so hip they have a phone app. Their main claims to fame are a baby teething product aimed at parents of 1-30 month olds, and a custom (trademarked?) concoction they call “Oscillococcinum” purported to be made from wild duck liver. (Wikipedia says this recipe was invented over a hundred years ago though so I don’t know where the registration comes in.)
Stop use and ask a health care practitioner if symptoms worsen or persist for more than 48 hours.
Boiron‘s get-out-of-jail-free disclaimer.
Homeocan
They’re the ones with the crayon-scrawl “This product is for kids!” look to their “0-9” age range placebos.
If your kid loses their hearing though it’s your fault for using it:
We advise you to take these remedies in addition to traditional medical treatment. Homeopathy can not replace a treatment prescribed by a professional.
Homeocan
Their product range also includes water drops for pets, so if you feel like killing your dog they have you covered. ‘Course if that happens, it’s your fault for trusting their garbage:
Whether a condition is acute or chronic, this product can provide assistance as a supportive treatment, but will not replace traditional veterinary medicine.
Homeocan
They’ll carry this, but won’t carry other actual medicine
For an annoyingly non-specific joint problem, I was prescribed CBD lotion last year by a rheumatologist (CBD being an extract of cannabis). Whether it’ll work on me is still up in the air, but it does work for a number of people, for a number of ailments.
For some reason, Canadian pharmacies got cold feet at dispensing drugs π€·ββοΈ so most of them aren’t licensed for cannabis-based medicines. They’ve got your expensive bottle of sugar pills though.
Pharmacy | Homeopathic Nonsense? | CBD Lotion? |
London Drugs | β | β |
Shoppers Drug Mart | β | β |
IDA | β | β |
Rexall | β | β |
Safeway | β | β |
Medicine Shoppe | β | β |
Walmart | β | β |
Superstore | β | β |
James Randi shames pharmacies for playing along
In 2011 famous anti-quack campaigner, magician and skeptic James Randi reiterated his 1M$ challenge to homeopath creators and sellers.
None took him up on it
Customer Confusion
As CBC notes again and again in their investigations, if you’re at the store suffering with the same cold your child brought home, you’re very likely to mistake a homeopathic remedy for a real one. I’m currently torn on the display of homeopathic products in pharmacies. I’d rather they not be there at all, but while some outlets throw the medieval mixtures right in with real medicines, other (Rexall for example) have special aisle sections with overhead signs and everything. The former is guaranteed to confuse people, but the latter seems like promotion to me.