I’ve previously made the case that all codeine-containing pharmaceutical products be sold with prescriptions. In summary, there is mounting evidence that over-the-counter, codeine-containing medications provide modest analgesic benefits at an unacceptable cost.
Further support for this point of view was published in the MJA, where data from the 2010–2013 period showed an increase in codeine-related deaths, from 3.5 per million to 8.7 per million.
Many of the deaths were attributed to accidental overdose, and many occurred as multi-drug overdoses.
Would we tolerate a doubling in road deaths over a four-year period? Would a doubling of cancer deaths be acceptable? We ban unsafe products which cause harm without being useful all the time.
The main groups who stand to lose from making these products prescription-only are retail pharmacies and drug companies, at whose lobbying the measure was previously halted in 2010.
