Supplement Regulation Issues

Aren’t they normally sold as supplements’ not medicines, to circumvent regulations?

Great resource for categories and research on supplements. Because supplements in U.S. are in the "wild west" of regulatory oversite, its important to know ingredient efficacy and ingredient purity. Consumer Labs (pay for subscription) offers some testing on selected products. Need to tweek "purchase from other market" -not all markets are "Out" as indicated.

Is there a downside to deregulating them? (Like supplements.)

It's all the supplements and other homeopathic exemption stuff that worries me. Not only do they not have to prove they're effect (at all, let alone more effective than the standard treatment), but they've had serious safety issues in the past. Ephedra is a classic example. Plus there are so many times people do tests that find supplements don't contain what they claim.

It's also unregulated and the actual dosage compared to the label can be wildly different, and can even be contaminated.

That happens all the time. Please check https://labdoor.com/ before buying any unregulated drug.

There is no oversight of supplements (at least in the US). You just have to trust the brand, because legally there's nothing stopping a supplement manufacturer from using entirely different ingredients from what is claimed.

if you could tell the difference they would be called medicines not supplements.

Since vitamins and supplements are totally unregulated it could be that it doesn't actually contain any of the active ingredient it claims it does, thereby avoiding any legal issue.

I’m concerned you are overestimating the value of the certificate of authenticity you’re getting from your supplier. While you may be right that the compounds you intend to take can’t possibly be all that harmful, there’s a good chance what you’re getting may not be what you think, may not be entirely what you think, and likely contains other things that may be harmful, particularly over a longer period of time.