Viagra gets legal all-clear

Impotent Thai men are to be the first in the region to get legal access to Viagra - the drug now improving the sexual performances of American men.

Thai Food and Drug Administration officials said they had little choice but to allow the drug to be sold by prescription, given widespread smuggling and counterfeiting.

'We thoroughly considered the approval of the drug in the interests of the consumer and for the nation's sake,' said secretary-general Mongkol Na Songkhla.

Impotency can carry more than the usual stigma in Thailand, where middle-aged men frequently brag of being able to entertain strings of mistresses, and certain ageing politicians have campaigned on their sexual prowess.

Demand for Viagra had been so great in Thailand that men were paying black marketeers up to 2,150 baht (HK$400) for a single blue pill that was often a fake.

Now, with the signature of certain psychiatrists, urologists and cardiologists, the pills can be obtained from hospital pharmacies for about 400 baht a pop.