AUSTRALIAN Medical Association president Michael Gannon has reiterated the organisation's endorsement of the TGA decision to move OTC codeine products to prescription-only, which becomes effective 01 Feb 2018.
Responding to questions after a National Press Club speech in Canberra yesterday, Gannon noted there were already 25 countries where codeine requires a script, adding the medication was "very much the gateway drug" to 140 deaths a day from opioid overdose.
He said the AMA was telling state and territory health ministers that "we do not want to see exemptions from this" - in contrast to the Pharmacy Guild's proposal for emergency supply of codeine without prescription in certain situations.
"That's wading into very, very dangerous territory...the truth is the evidence shows there are much more effective analgesics that my members should be prescribing," Gannon said.
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