Here's what happened when codeine was made prescription-only
8th October 2019
Fears switching the painkiller codeine to a prescription-only medicine would lead to more people misusing stronger painkillers are unfounded, according to research published this month.
Our research, in the journal Addiction, found the 2018 switch resulted in a 50% drop in codeine overdoses and sales.
There was also no increase in overdoses with stronger opioids or high-strength codeine, as some had feared.
Australia has a love affair with codeine. It has
