5 ms·

I’m not a public health expert but I don’t see how the status quo is preferable to letting anybody buy codeine at CVS. I’m seeing a lot of suffering in my neigh

I’m not a public health expert but I don’t see how the status quo is preferable to letting anybody buy codeine at CVS. I’m seeing a lot of suffering in my neighborhood and a lot of money going towards it that could be better spent on other problems.

Euphorbium 3y ago
You will have to rip easy drug money from the cold dead cop hands.
Loughla 3y ago
Can you buy codeine over the counter? Where I live, any painkiller/opioid is exclusively by prescription.
- diag 3y ago
  Have you been to Canada? It's not hard to walk in a pharmacy and get it.
  - butteredblueb 3y ago
    [dead]
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- deleted 3y ago
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- NikkiA 3y ago
  Not pure codeine, but co-codamol (codeine/paracetamol mix) is OTC in about half of europe, and the UK.
- ccooffee 3y ago
  According to "Codeine" from the Canadian government[0]: > Certain lower-dose codeine products (8 mg or less per pill, 20 mg or less per 30 mL of liquid medication) can be purchased directly from a pharmacist without a prescription to temporarily treat mild or moderate pain, or as a cough suppressant. [0] https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/controlled-illegal-drugs/codeine.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-us...
standardUser 3y ago
I wouldn't mind having access to codeine because it is a very effective painkiller compared to OTC stuff in the US. I also don't mind not having access because I find the addictive potential of opioids personally threatening. None of that matters to heroin users or users of more powerful prescription opioids because codeine will not give them the high they want. A better model would be something along the lines of marijuana dispensaries or state-run liquor stores, where legal sales can be made but with added levels of difficulty/obscurity. That kind of rigid legalization scheme probably wouldn't kill the black market, but it would absolutely save lives. Many people who are dead today would still be alive if they could have simply purchased a safe version of the drug they were going to do either way.
- aodonnell2536 3y ago
  It’s my understanding that a similar compound known as dihydrocodeine (DHC) is sold OTC in some European countries, and is abused in a similar manner to how dextromethorphan (DXM) is abused in the US.
  - scarby2 3y ago
    co-codamol is available in the UK over the counter which is a mix or paracetamol (acetaminophen) and codeine. It's not abused that much as i'm aware as you'd need to take enough for the paracetamol to do yourself serious harm in order to get high).
- glimshe 3y ago
  Have you heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamizole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamizole ? Widely used outside the US, but illegal to prescribe here. But you can own it here as long as you are not prescribing it. It's not as potent as an opioid, but it's a step up from the OTC stuff. I often buy it when traveling abroad (a bottle costs less than a dollar in Latin America) and my family has used it for years as millions of people abroad. There are concerns with safety, but according to plenty of foreign research, these risks are comparable to other, widely used medicine, and are based on outdated results. This medicine is so cheap it wouldn't be profitable to do new trials in the US, thus we will likely not see this sold here anytime soon. Anyway, this is not medical advice!

Euphorbium 3y ago

You will have to rip easy drug money from the cold dead cop hands.

Loughla 3y ago

Can you buy codeine over the counter? Where I live, any painkiller/opioid is exclusively by prescription.

diag 3y ago
Have you been to Canada? It's not hard to walk in a pharmacy and get it.
- butteredblueb 3y ago
  [dead]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
NikkiA 3y ago
Not pure codeine, but co-codamol (codeine/paracetamol mix) is OTC in about half of europe, and the UK.
ccooffee 3y ago
According to "Codeine" from the Canadian government[0]: > Certain lower-dose codeine products (8 mg or less per pill, 20 mg or less per 30 mL of liquid medication) can be purchased directly from a pharmacist without a prescription to temporarily treat mild or moderate pain, or as a cough suppressant. [0] https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-use/controlled-illegal-drugs/codeine.html https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/substance-us...

standardUser 3y ago

I wouldn't mind having access to codeine because it is a very effective painkiller compared to OTC stuff in the US. I also don't mind not having access because I find the addictive potential of opioids personally threatening. None of that matters to heroin users or users of more powerful prescription opioids because codeine will not give them the high they want. A better model would be something along the lines of marijuana dispensaries or state-run liquor stores, where legal sales can be made but with added levels of difficulty/obscurity. That kind of rigid legalization scheme probably wouldn't kill the black market, but it would absolutely save lives. Many people who are dead today would still be alive if they could have simply purchased a safe version of the drug they were going to do either way.

aodonnell2536 3y ago
It’s my understanding that a similar compound known as dihydrocodeine (DHC) is sold OTC in some European countries, and is abused in a similar manner to how dextromethorphan (DXM) is abused in the US.
- scarby2 3y ago
  co-codamol is available in the UK over the counter which is a mix or paracetamol (acetaminophen) and codeine. It's not abused that much as i'm aware as you'd need to take enough for the paracetamol to do yourself serious harm in order to get high).
glimshe 3y ago
Have you heard of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamizole https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metamizole ? Widely used outside the US, but illegal to prescribe here. But you can own it here as long as you are not prescribing it. It's not as potent as an opioid, but it's a step up from the OTC stuff. I often buy it when traveling abroad (a bottle costs less than a dollar in Latin America) and my family has used it for years as millions of people abroad. There are concerns with safety, but according to plenty of foreign research, these risks are comparable to other, widely used medicine, and are based on outdated results. This medicine is so cheap it wouldn't be profitable to do new trials in the US, thus we will likely not see this sold here anytime soon. Anyway, this is not medical advice!