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The Forum > Article Comments > Need for smarter, not stricter, regulation of codeine sales > Comments

Need for smarter, not stricter, regulation of codeine sales : Comments

By Marija Polic, published 28/2/2017

There's no denying that some Australians do abuse codeine, although the numbers would be paltry when placed next to the abuse and addiction rates for alcohol, cigarettes, harder pharmaceuticals and many other products.

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Given codeine is very addictive, agree with the new regulations and wonder why it took so long!? It's not too hard to queue the once or twice in a lifetime one might actually need codeine!

Moreover, overuse of any addictive narcotic (morphine/heroin derivative) like codeine, tends to desensitise the recipient, making the medication progressively less and less efficacious! And at which time more efficacious temporary relief may be found in ibuprofen and panadol taken in combination?

If pain persists, see your doctor! Given overuse of any medication, however seemingly benign, may come with serious health consequences!
Too much panadol can melt your liver.
Alan B.
Posted by Alan B., Tuesday, 28 February 2017 3:39:59 PM
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This is a very sound article, Marija. Agree with every word of it.

But there's more to it.

For a start, what is the new regime going to cost? How much are all the GP appointments going to cost the taxpayer? How much more difficult will it be to get an appointment with a GP? How long will the patient be expected to tolerate severe pain before he/she can (a) get a prescription and (b) have it filled? How much more cost will this impose on a pharmacist and his/her staff? And what will the average price per dose become?

Of course, all of this has been supported and foreshadowed by the towering intellects at the Therapeutic Goods Administration, the mob who delivered the Pan Pharmaceuticals catastrophe which destroyed the company and cost us taxpayers billions in compensation.

Now they have announced a new prescription-based system of dispensing codeine-based products on the basis of very dodgy statistics. Of all the codeine-based doses used in Australia each year, what percentage are misused? A tiny fraction, I'd guess. And the percentage of misuse resulting in hospitalisation or death far smaller again.

And please, nobody should bother to give us the "one death is too many" nonsense. If that was applied across the board we'd sit in a darkened room all day and never leave the house.

The core problem is bureaucracy: many of the faceless apparatchics lead such dull and joyless lives that they are driven to seek satisfaction and promotion by dreaming up nanny state controls for the rest of us.

Thus, somebody has had the bright idea that if they made codeine-based products harder to get, it would deter people from misusing, overdosing or committing suicide. But they have not made the case out by telling us the costs and inconveniences which the change would entail. Nor have they made the case that change is required because of the high level of misuse, overdosing or suicide.
Posted by calwest, Tuesday, 28 February 2017 4:31:21 PM
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This is an excellent article. A doctor friend has said this has to be yet another stupid bureaucratic rule which is just going to cause work for everyone, raise health costs for the government, and cause major problems for older people. Codeine is a mild opiate and for older people it is an excellent drug for them to take. It is unbelievable that a government that supposedly believes in the responsibility of individuals is allowing this measure to be introduced.
Posted by EQ, Tuesday, 28 February 2017 7:01:26 PM
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I'm allergic to codeine.30 minutes after taking it, I'm constricted with massive kidney pain for the next 24 hours. After two such episodes in my youth, despite being assured by the doctors that it couldn't be the codeine that caused the problem, I found research that indeed confirmed it was a real thing.

But I found a solution to the problem...I stopped using it. Radical thinking, I know, but a solution nonetheless.

And I didn't need government to tell me to stop.
Posted by mhaze, Wednesday, 1 March 2017 11:38:34 AM
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