Despite the limits of the public system, it seems to have stimulated, according to some reports, a growing and indeed avid demand for pharmaceuticals. AMI distributions of medicines occasionally turned into riots. There are also reports of regular drug thefts from the stocks carried by nurses traveling to remote villages. In some regions, QE was sold so quickly it was hard to maintain stocks, and some distributors sought to stimulate sales by selling it by the tablet instead of the tube. An even more striking sign of the popularity of pharmaceuticals is the significant number of drugs that appear to have circulated in Vietnam only outside the AMI.