Consumers will be able to buy aspirin, cold medicine and other common nonprescription drugs at convenience stores and supermarkets starting on Monday, when the revised Pharmaceutical Affairs Law finally kicks in.

Convenience stores and supermarkets will be allowed to sell most over-the-counter drugs at outlets as long as they are staffed with sales clerks licensed as "registered venders."

Up to this point, stores were required to hire pharmacists to sell any kind of drugs, even aspirin. But since it's much easier to get licensed as a registered vender than a pharmacist, many retailers plan to hire an army of venders rather than pharmacists.