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 historically been our most used opioid, and 2013 data showed we took more codeine as a country than the US, despite having roughly 7% the population.