The aim of our study was to survey consumers' awareness of the serious side effects that may occur with nonprescription drugs. The results showed most of consumers had little knowledge of such serious side effects of non-prescription drugs. As a particular finding, 94% of respondents had never heard of the Stevens-Johnson syndrome. In this regard, the survey found that most people had no desire to buy non-prescription drugs having the potential to cause the Stevens-Johnson syndrome from convenience stores suggesting that safety was a more important consideration than convenience in the purchase of non-prescription drugs.