NORTH Queensland's Calanna Whole Health Pharmacy group is calling for a rethink on the controversial decision to reschedule codeine-containing medicines to prescription-only, announced by the Therapeutic Goods Administration just before Christmas (PD 20 Dec).
In a statement issued yesterday Calanna group general manager Matthew Calanna said real-time monitoring of all codeine based products had shown less than 2% of customers misused the drug - equating to 70,000 denied sales during 2016.
"This shows pharmacists have played an important role in their scope of practice and with the infrastructure we have access to, we are already reducing the inappropriate use of over-the-counter codeine based products."
Calanna said the MedsASSIST program had been taken up by more than 70% of pharmacists nationwide, with over four milliion transactions recorded.
He said if the system was mandated "it would prove a very effective means to reduce abuse, and allow government to focus on other important substance abuse issues".
Calanna said local GPs in his region were expecting to see their surgeries flooded when codeine becomes prescription only.
"What we are talking about here is lots of people requiring scripts for low dose codeine based products which are effective and can be monitored and sold under the supervision of a pharmacist very safely and reliably," he claimed.
"This will only take the focus off doctors working with chronic disease management and have them more involved in minor ailments such as headache and general pain complaints, which is not a constructive use of a GP's time or resources," he concluded.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 09 Jan 17
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 09 Jan 17
