It's an opiate, and some opiate addicts like loperamide. It's certainly not the fix they're looking for, but some of them like it enough that -- unlike seemingly every other OTC drug they stock -- it is kept
behind the counter at the Dollar General near me, so that a would-be buyer has to ask for it.
And that's not a result of regulation (anyone can buy as much as they want), but is rather a result of stock shrink. It tends to disappear in some less-than-savory neighborhoods.
(I use loperamide occasionally for its main intended purpose of settling my gut down enough that I can do something other than hang out near a bathroom while I quickly dehydrate, and more than once it has been legitimately hard to find in some areas when I've needed to buy more.)