Chloroquine is class P (pharmacy medicines), which is effectively "behind-the-counter but the pharmacist tells you how to use it".

The idea being that if you want to take a trip to somewhere tropical, you don't have to tie up a GP with a standard, low-risk medication, but it's not quite so low-risk that you just put it on the shelf. Behind-the-counter, if you will.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-counter_drug#United_K...

> Pharmacy Medicines (P) are medicines which are legally neither a POM or GSL medication. These can be sold from a registered pharmacy but should not be available for self-selection (although directions to discuss a 'P' product may be allocated shelf space with associated GSL items). 'P' medications are reserved from the GSL list as they are either associated with a need for advice on use, or used in conditions which may require referral to a medical prescriber. Suitable trained counter assistants may sell a 'P' medication under the supervision of a pharmacist and will ask questions to determine if the customer needs to be referred for a discussion with a pharmacist.

I’ve been trying to buy some since early January and haven’t found a single pharmacist who will sell it to me. If you know of one, please let me know.

No-one carries it because they'd have hydroxychloroquine instead. Hydroxychloroquine is prescription only.

You're not going to be able to get a registered professional to give you anything for off-label experimentation, especially not something with potentially serious side effects like chloroquine.

I agree but I wanted it as a precaution. In Northern Ireland the hospital system has a vanishingly low capacity and we only test for COVID if someone is dying and we don’t know why (I think 200 tests total), so it was precautionary.

There’s a non-zero chance this virus gets into my home and a high-90’s chance the health care system will just turn us away if we got in trouble.