'Harmful' codeine should be banned - experts

Experts warn painkillers containing codeine are ineffective, highly addictive and harmful. Photo / 123RF

Panadeine, Nurofen Plus and other medicines containing codeine should be banned from over-the-counter sales, say top pain medicine experts.

People have been becoming addicted to codeine-based medication.

They say that painkillers containing codeine are ineffective, highly addictive and harmful and should only be supplied with a doctor's prescription.

The Faculty of Pain Medicine of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) wants the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) to reclassify the products so they are prescription-only.

May 7 is the cut-off date for submissions to the TGA on the proposal.

Speaking to AAP ahead of the annual ANZCA scientific meeting in Adelaide, faculty board member Professor Stephan Schug said a low amount of codeine, a weak opiate, is commonly added to paracetamol or ibuprofen.

But many addicts took numerous tablets a day, well over the recommended dose, resulting in liver, renal and kidney failures, gastrointestinal harm, internal bleeding and even death.

"My last patient told me that after work he goes to four pharmacies and gets 20 lots of tablets," said Prof Schug who is director of pain medicine at Royal Perth Hospital.

"Not having them listed as prescription-only is more or less failing to protect the Australian community from these harmful side-effects, particularly as their analgesic benefit is very limited.

"We work in intensive care and see the catastrophic consequences of these drugs."

Prof Schug said people would still be able to buy effective over-the-counter painkillers which do not contain codeine.

Paracetamol or ibuprofen by themselves wouldn't be affected by the ban.

And he said research had shown that a new product, a combination of the two, was better than the codeine-combination and did not have the risks of addiction.

- AAP