Homeopathic stuff is even worse than this, beyond being useless, it's just NOTHING. ABSOLUTELY should not be allowed to exist.

The problem with phenylephrine here, is that it is an Actual Drug that does Actual Things, just not remotely the thing it claims to do. Due to a widespread attempt to ban pseudoephedrine because meth, something needed to fill that gap as the "safe" decongestant. Industry put forward phenylephrine, a vasoconstrictor commonly uses in topical applications, forced it through government approval because regulatory capture, then police and political forces used its existence to justify bans on pseudoephedrine. Something that worked great was made illegal/hard to obtain (talk to a pharmacist, scan a card, only a week of pills at a time; if not explicitly banned), but industry still got their precious dollars.