Pharmaceutical Pain Killers
There are currently 460,000 Australians who rely on over the counter medicines that hold doses of codeine. Studies have shown that 16.4 million purchases of codeine-containing painkillers a year are been made nation-wide, and the number of codeine accounted deaths have tripled in the past 20 years. This has caused a recent push to ban over the counter medicines that contain codeine, without a doctor’s prescription, sparking a debate between chemists and doctors. While the ban would aim at reducing these casualties, where does it leave average Australian’s when choosing pharmaceutical pain killers? Adjunct Associate Professor Chris Alderman from School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences at University of South Australia joined The Daily to discuss the health issues of codeine and the new ban’s ramifications.
Produced by Brooke Taylor
Interviewed by Sean Britten, 25th November 2016
