Peak bodies fight addiction
December 4, 2013
The Pharmacy Guild and the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
have joined forces to support a
Reckitt Benckiser (RB) initiative
to address the risk of codeine
addiction, aiming to heighten
awareness via updated packaging
and pharmacist and patient
education materials.
Nurofen Plus packages will be
updated with a warning to clearly
state that codeine-containing
analgesics should only be used
for three days at a time and that
codeine can cause addiction.
Guild National President George
Tambassis and PSA National
President Grant Kardachi along
with their respective harm
minimisation chairmen, Angelo
Pricolo and Irvine Newton, are
cosignatories of a letter going to
Australian pharmacists to kick off
the campaign this week.
The letter is part of a special
pack accompanied by a message
from RB Marketing Manager
Vanessa McCutcheon, who explains
collateral which includes a number
of patient education leaflets and a
roll of medication warning stickers
for all codeine-containing OTC
analgesics, to be used until the
packaging is updated next year.
In addition there will be a guide
for each pharmacist to familiarise
themselves with some frequently
asked questions (FAQs) they can
expect from their patients or carers.
Newton emphasised that
education is the central ingredient
in the campaign.
The main message to patients is
to be aware that if they are using
codeine containing medication
such as Nurofen Plus for more than
three days continuously, they may
need to talk with their pharmacist
or prescribing doctor around their
pain management options and the
risk of dependency.
Early warning signs of addiction
and side effects are highlighted in
the patient leaflet.
As Pricolo pointed out, “no-one
chooses to become an addict” and
as such a sense of blame should
never be on the agenda.
RB’s McCutcheon described
the UK influence from The Pain
Management Society who are
fighting the increasing tendency to
addiction with morphine products,
noting that “we are on the same
curve” hastening the call to action
at the OTC codeine level where
tolerance can build in some people.
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